About the project
LEGOF examines the viability of the European Union's (EU) foreign and security policy in the context of enhanced uncertainty, risk and ambiguity in international affairs. It aims to provide an updated analysis of the role and capabilities of the EU in the changing world order.
LEGOF posits that there is need for a particular type of legitimacy for the EU to be a capable and a reliable actor. The requirement of physical capabilities to insert the EU's will in a changing world order depends on the Union's ability to establish a legitimacy basis of its own that is also acceptable for others. The prevailing mood is of a need to shift from soft to hard power in the context of increased geopolitical competition. Yet the success of such a shift itself depends on protracted consensus-making processes between the Masters of the Treaties. Power is only power as long as there is agreement and as long as the member states stay together.
Objectives
LEGOF aims to break new ground in research on EU foreign and security policy through its emphasis on legitimacy in the establishment of capability. Drawing on its conception of legitimacy it conducts four strands of empirical analyses, which address both the procedural and the substantive dimensions of EU foreign, security and defence policy. LEGOF’s theoretically informed research establishes a sound basis for developing policy relevant analyses.
Publikasjoner
Politicisation and contestation in the EU foreign and security policy: Typology, triggers, and actors by Magdalena Góra. LEGOF Policy Brief 5/2021.
Fit for creating partnerships of equals with the global south? Johanne Døhlie Saltnes has co-authored an article with Sebastian Steinglass in Global Affairs on the implicit tensions in the EU’s approach for creating a more effective and equal international development policy post-2020. Global Affairs, 2021.
The EU Global Strategy and Resilience: Five Years On by Ana E. Juncos. LEGOF Policy Brief 4/202.
The quest for partnership: Challenges for the EU’s rights-based approach to development by Johanne Døhlie Saltnes. LEGOF Policy Brief 3/2021 .
Brexit and Irish Security and Defence in Europe by Ben Tonra. LEGOF Policy Brief 2/2021.
Ten years after Lisbon: Member States in EU foreign and security policy by Heidi Maurer and Nicholas Wright. LEGOF Policy Brief 1/2021.
How Climate Scientists View the Expert Role by Torbjørn Gundersen. ARENA Working Paper 2/2018.
Legitimate Agency Reasoning by Andreas Eriksen. ARENA Working Paper 1/2018.
