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The EU's Geoeconomic Turn: From Policy Laggard to Institutional Innovator

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  • Sarah Bauerle Danzman
  • Sophie Meunier

Abstract

Heightened geopolitical tensions and the growing securitization of economic exchange over the past decade have prompted many countries to adopt new geoeconomic tools. Long resistant to this geoeconomic turn, the European Union (EU) has since 2017 created a panoply of innovative policy tools that blend trade and investment with essential security concerns. This article asks why and how the EU has been able to operate the doctrinal and policy changes necessary to put economic tools at the service of geopolitics. After introducing a typology of the defensive and offensive geoeconomic tools deployed by advanced industrial economies, we present the novel geoeconomic toolkit quickly assembled by the EU, which we explain by the confluence of external factors that triggered European leaders' beliefs that change was necessary and internal factors that made such change institutionally and politically possible, a trend reinforced by the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Bauerle Danzman & Sophie Meunier, 2024. "The EU's Geoeconomic Turn: From Policy Laggard to Institutional Innovator," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1097-1115, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:62:y:2024:i:4:p:1097-1115
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13599
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anna Herranz‐Surrallés & Chad Damro & Sandra Eckert, 2024. "The Geoeconomic Turn of the Single European Market? Conceptual Challenges and Empirical Trends," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 919-937, July.
    2. Lucia Quaglia & Amy Verdun, 2024. "The Geoeconomics of the Single Market for Financial Services," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1046-1062, July.
    3. Pierre Haroche, 2024. "Geoeconomic Power Europe: When Global Power Competition Drives EU Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 938-954, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Robert Basedow & Sophie Meunier & Christilla Roederer-Rynning, 2023. "Fair Play? The Politics of Evaluating Foreign Subsidies in the European Union," RSCAS Working Papers 2023/41, European University Institute.
    6. Ana E. Juncos & Sophie Vanhoonacker, 2024. "The Ideational Power of Strategic Autonomy in EU Security and External Economic Policies," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 955-972, July.
    7. Andrea Christou & Chad Damro, 2024. "Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the Geoeconomic Turn," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1080-1096, July.
    8. Sophie Meunier, 2017. "Integration by Stealth: How the European Union Gained Competence over Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 593-610, May.
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    1. Anna Herranz‐Surrallés & Chad Damro & Sandra Eckert, 2024. "The Geoeconomic Turn of the Single European Market? Conceptual Challenges and Empirical Trends," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 919-937, July.
    2. Lucia Quaglia & Amy Verdun, 2024. "The Geoeconomics of the Single Market for Financial Services," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1046-1062, July.
    3. Ana E. Juncos & Sophie Vanhoonacker, 2024. "The Ideational Power of Strategic Autonomy in EU Security and External Economic Policies," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 955-972, July.
    4. Rebecca Adler‐Nissen & Kristin Anabel Eggeling, 2024. "The Discursive Struggle for Digital Sovereignty: Security, Economy, Rights and the Cloud Project Gaia‐X," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 993-1011, July.

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