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A ‘Geopolitical Commission’: Supranationalism Meets Global Power Competition

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  • Pierre Haroche

Abstract

This article examines the origins and operationalisation of the concept of a ‘geopolitical Commission’, which has been promoted by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen since 2019. This concept has been used to guide the stronger co‐ordination of the external aspects of the Commission's work. It is also symptomatic of the growing role of strategic considerations in the Commission's recent initiatives, particularly through the objective of strengthening the EU's ‘open strategic autonomy’. To explain this phenomenon, I combine three different theoretical perspectives: neorealism, neofunctionalism, and geoeconomics. I conclude that the geopolitical Commission should be understood as the result of the interactions between exogenous factors – the intensification of global power competition and the rise of geoeconomic strategies – and endogenous factors, such as the rivalry between the Commission and the European External Action Service and the functional link between the Commission's economic powers and international security issues.

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  • Pierre Haroche, 2023. "A ‘Geopolitical Commission’: Supranationalism Meets Global Power Competition," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 970-987, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:61:y:2023:i:4:p:970-987
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13440
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sophie Meunier & Kalypso Nicolaidis, 2019. "The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(S1), pages 103-113, September.
    2. Marianne Riddervold, 2016. "(Not) in the Hands of the Member States: How the European Commission Influences EU Security and Defence Policies," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 353-369, March.
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