Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?
Open accessAbstract
Twenty years ago, in the pages of the, Journal of Common Market Studies , Hedley Bull launched a searing critique of the European Community’s ‘civilian power’ in international affairs. Since that time the increasing role of the European Union (EU) in areas of security and defence policy has led to a seductiveness in adopting the notion of ‘military power Europe’. In contrast, I will attempt to argue that by thinking beyond traditional conceptions of the EU’s international role and examining the case study of its international pursuit of the abolition of the death penalty, we may best conceive of the EU as a ‘normative power Europe’.
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The legal challenges of AI appear particularly urgent considering the Union's role as a normative power: while the EU has traditionally leveraged its large internal market to foster international companies' adaptation to European legal standards, including in the fight against online disinformation, geopolitical attrition seems to undermine the principle of voluntary compliance that makes soft law
“Additionally, the legal challenges of AI appear particularly urgent considering the Union's role as a normative power: while the EU has traditionally leveraged on his large internal market to foster international companies”
From Deepfakes, Democracy, and the Ethics of Synthetic Media: A Synthesis of the SOLARIS Project (2026) · cites this paper as Manners, 2002
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“Other countries have been inspired by the EU example (Manners, 2002), for example the California Consumer Privacy Act (2019).”
MethodDeepfakes, Democracy, and the Ethics of Synthetic Media: A Synthesis of the SOLARIS Project
(2026) · University of Maribor Press · doi:10.18690/um.feri.2.2026
- Authors
- Manners, I.
- Affiliations
- University of Kent (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Manners, Ian
- ORCID
- Manners, Ian
- Venue
- JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2002-06
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 235-258
- ISSN
- 0021-9886 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-5965
- OpenAlex
- W2118712147
- Cited by
- 3,540
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 159 · 2025: 199 · 2024: 185 · 2023: 208 · 2022: 171 · 2021: 208 · 2020: 213 · 2019: 218 · 2018: 216 · 2017: 198 · 2016: 178 · 2015: 209 · 2014: 155 · 2013: 199 · 2012: 147
- FWCI
- 161.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- papers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › European Union Policy and Governance
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Relations and Foreign Policy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › European Politics and Security
- Keywords
- normative power, European Union, abolition of the death penalty, civilian power, EU global role, security and defence policy, Hedley Bull, international law
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