The role of expertise in the emerging EU diplomatic system

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

Sophie Vanhoonacker analyses how the EU’s diplomatic service is addressing the increasingly complex and technical challenges to foreign policy.

In a world where foreign policy challenges are becoming increasingly complex and technical, questions have been raised about the viability of the traditional profile of diplomats as generalists. Prof. Sophie Vanhoonacker's research examines how the European European Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service has addressed this question. In particular, it examines how the High Representative/Vice President (HR/VP) and EEAS have organised the gathering and processing of European foreign policy expertise in the new service. Based on a case study on the Asia-Pacific department, it first identifies the rules of the game underlying the organisation of expertise and successively explores the day-to-day practice of these rules. The research does not limit itself to subject matter expertise but also explores how the EEAS deals with questions of political, procedural expertise, and policy expertise. The basic unit of analysis are expert groups rather than on individual experts.

Sophie Vanhoonacker has a chair in Administrative Governance and is Jean Monnet professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), Maastricht University. From 2016 to Sep. 2020, she served as Dean of the faculty. She is currently Visiting Fellow at the Schuman Centre. In her research she examines the role and influence of bureaucratic actors in multi-layered, polycentric systems of decision-making with a special focus on European foreign policy. 

Chair: Philipp Genschel

The seminar is on Zoom - please register to receive the link. All are welcome.