The development of coherent and effective relations with developing countries is one of the most challenging tasks faced by the European Union. This project aims to assess the making of the European Union’s policies towards the South. It focuses in particular on three controversial policy areas: economic partnerships, sustainable development and conflict management. The project deals not only with EU’s foreign policies towards the global South but also aims to analyse the tensions and paradoxes between the EU’s foreign policies and those of its member states. The meaning of “the South” is very broad and refers to a considerable part of the world, covering Latin America, Africa and Asia (including the Mediterranean and the Middle East). Several case studies will be performed aiming to answer three important questions: What actors are the most important in the making of the EU’s foreign policies towards the South? What are the dynamics of policy making in the EU’s foreign policies towards the South? What constitutes power and how are different kinds of power executed in the making of the EU’s foreign policies towards the South?

Contact person: Fredrik Söderbaum