Overview

The post-Cold War period is coming to an end. After a decade of foreign policy integration Europe faces multipolarity internally divided and externally weak. Toje argues that due to the lack of a workable decision-making mechanism the EU is destined to play the limited but distinct role of a small power in global politics.

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9780230336780

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Reviews

Recommended holiday reading, The Economist 'A fascinating tale of great ambitions and limited capacity to met them. The great strength of Asle Toje's absorbing, detailed and much-needed study is to show what role the European Union might be expected to play under multipolarity. If the fate of the EU has been bound up with the evolution of Europe, then the history of the foreign policy he reveals has been closely shaped by the lack of a workable decision-making mechanism - and by a shared national interest. At last a study that sets contemporary European security and the European Union in its broader international context.' - Robert Kagan, author of The Return of History and Paradise and Power 'Now that the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force and appointments to the three top jobs have been made, the European Union can no longer hide behind its own bureaucratic inertia as an excuse for inactivity in a dangerous world. Asle Toje, with his characteristically hard-headed approach to the EU's aspirations to become a global player, asks the really tough questions which cannot be obfuscated. Whether one agrees with him or not, this is a book which should be read by all those who seek to understand the reality behind Europe's emerging role as a global actor.' - Jolyon Howorth, Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA 'Clearly written, drawing on a huge range of empirical sources, and theoretically sophisticated, this book is a must for all those interested in Europe's role in the emerging world order. The argument presented that, for all its size and wealth, the European Union is emerging as the equivalent of a 'small state' on the international scene is both ingenious and extremely important.' - Professor Anand Menon, Director of the European Research Institute& Professor of West European Politics, University of Birmingham, UK 'Whereas many publications discuss the adjective of power - is the EU a normative, transformative, civilian power, etc - while implicitly assuming that the EU is a global actor, Asle Toje poses the fundamental question of whether the EU will be a great power at all. A provocative yet highly necessary debate in the age of multipolarity, to which this book is an indispensable contribution.' - Professor. Dr. Sven Biscop, Director of the Security and Global Governance Programme, Royal Institute of International Relations, Belgium

Recommended holiday reading, The Economist 'A fascinating tale of great ambitions and limited capacity to met them. The great strength of Asle Toje's absorbing, detailed and much-needed study is to show what role the European Union might be expected to play under multipolarity. If the fate of the EU has been bound up with the evolution of Europe, then the history of the foreign policy he reveals has been closely shaped by the lack of a workable decision-making mechanism - and by a shared national interest. At last a study that sets contemporary European security and the European Union in its broader international context.' - Robert Kagan, author of The Return of History and Paradise and Power 'Now that the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force and appointments to the three top jobs have been made, the European Union can no longer hide behind its own bureaucratic inertia as an excuse for inactivity in a dangerous world. Asle Toje, with his characteristically hard-headed approach to the EU's aspirations to become a global player, asks the really tough questions which cannot be obfuscated. Whether one agrees with him or not, this is a book which should be read by all those who seek to understand the reality behind Europe's emerging role as a global actor.' - Jolyon Howorth, Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA 'Clearly written, drawing on a huge range of empirical sources, and theoretically sophisticated, this book is a must for all those interested in Europe's role in the emerging world order. The argument presented that, for all its size and wealth, the European Union is emerging as the equivalent of a 'small state' on the international scene is both ingenious and extremely important.' - Professor Anand Menon, Director of the European Research Institute and Professor of West European Politics, University of Birmingham, UK 'Whereas many publications discuss the adjective of power - is the EU a normative, transformative, civilian power, etc - while implicitly assuming that the EU is a global actor, Asle Toje poses the fundamental question of whether the EU will be a great power at all. A provocative yet highly necessary debate in the age of multipolarity, to which this book is an indispensable contribution.' - Professor. Dr. Sven Biscop, Director of the Security and Global Governance Programme, Royal Institute of International Relations, Belgium 'Toje's book, which is based on exhaustive interviews with decision-makers in Brussels and national capitals and an impressive mastery of the literature, is a closely argued, ruthless vivisection of Europe's shortcomings as a military actor.' - Hanns W. Maull, Survival

'A striking analysis of foreign and security policy during the opening decade of the century' Philip Stephens, Financial Times. Recommended holiday reading, The Economist 'A fascinating tale of great ambitions and limited capacity to met them. The great strength of Asle Toje's absorbing, detailed and much-needed study is to show what role the European Union might be expected to play under multipolarity. If the fate of the EU has been bound up with the evolution of Europe, then the history of the foreign policy he reveals has been closely shaped by the lack of a workable decision-making mechanism - and by a shared national interest. At last a study that sets contemporary European security and the European Union in its broader international context.' - Robert Kagan, author of The Return of History and Paradise and Power 'Now that the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force and appointments to the three top jobs have been made, the European Union can no longer hide behind its own bureaucratic inertia as an excuse for inactivity in a dangerous world. Asle Toje, with his characteristically hard-headed approach to the EU's aspirations to become a global player, asks the really tough questions which cannot be obfuscated. Whether one agrees with him or not, this is a book which should be read by all those who seek to understand the reality behind Europe's emerging role as a global actor.' - Jolyon Howorth, Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA 'Clearly written, drawing on a huge range of empirical sources, and theoretically sophisticated, this book is a must for all those interested in Europe's role in the emerging world order. The argument presented that, for all its size and wealth, the European Union is emerging as the equivalent of a 'small state' on the international scene is both ingenious and extremely important.' - Professor Anand Menon, Director of the European Research Institute and Professor of West European Politics, University of Birmingham, UK 'Whereas many publications discuss the adjective of power - is the EU a normative, transformative, civilian power, etc - while implicitly assuming that the EU is a global actor, Asle Toje poses the fundamental question of whether the EU will be a great power at all. A provocative yet highly necessary debate in the age of multipolarity, to which this book is an indispensable contribution.' - Professor. Dr. Sven Biscop, Director of the Security and Global Governance Programme, Royal Institute of International Relations, Belgium 'Toje's book, which is based on exhaustive interviews with decision-makers in Brussels and national capitals and an impressive mastery of the literature, is a closely argued, ruthless vivisection of Europe's shortcomings as a military actor.' - Hanns W. Maull, Survival

Recommended holiday reading, The Economist 'A fascinating tale of great ambitions and limited capacity to met them. The great strength of Asle Toje's absorbing, detailed and much-needed study is to show what role the European Union might be expected to play under multipolarity. If the fate of the EU has been bound up with the evolution of Europe, then the history of the foreign policy he reveals has been closely shaped by the lack of a workable decision-making mechanism - and by a shared national interest. At last a study that sets contemporary European security and the European Union in its broader international context.' - Robert Kagan, author of The Return of History and Paradise and Power 'Now that the Lisbon Treaty has entered into force and appointments to the three top jobs have been made, the European Union can no longer hide behind its own bureaucratic inertia as an excuse for inactivity in a dangerous world. Asle Toje, with his characteristically hard-headed approach to the EU's aspirations to become a global player, asks the really tough questions which cannot be obfuscated. Whether one agrees with him or not, this is a book which should be read by all those who seek to understand the reality behind Europe's emerging role as a global actor.' - Jolyon Howorth, Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA 'Clearly written, drawing on a huge range of empirical sources, and theoretically sophisticated, this book is a must for all those interested in Europe's role in the emerging world order. The argument presented that, for all its size and wealth, the European Union is emerging as the equivalent of a 'small state' on the international scene is both ingenious and extremely important.' - Professor Anand Menon, Director of the European Research Institute and Professor of West European Politics, University of Birmingham, UK 'Whereas many publications discuss the adjective of power - is the EU a normative, transformative, civilian power, etc - while implicitly assuming that the EU is a global actor, Asle Toje poses the fundamental question of whether the EU will be a great power at all. A provocative yet highly necessary debate in the age of multipolarity, to which this book is an indispensable contribution.' - Professor. Dr. Sven Biscop, Director of the Security and Global Governance Programme, Royal Institute of International Relations, Belgium

Author Information

ASLE TOJE is Research Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Norway. He is the author of America, the EU and Strategic Culture (2008) and editor of Neoclassical Realism in Europe (2009).

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