EU actor-centered geopoliticization: an introduction

Not only has the functioning and outlook of the European Union undergone significant transformation amid a series of crises, the EU has also become increasingly politicized and geopoliticized over the past decade and beyond. Against a backdrop of global volatility – marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and systemic rivalry with Russia and China among others – the EU seems to be moving from its traditional role as a norm-based actor toward a more interest-driven geopolitical stance. While the supra – and international levels are characterized by important shifts, research on the relation between the accelerating process of geopoliticization and the European Union is still at an early stage. In this article, an actor-centered framework is developed to conceptualize and examine how EU actors respond to, and potentially drive, geopoliticization. The framework distinguishes three main outcomes of this agency-driven process of geopoliticization: paradigm-reinforcing, paradigm-neutral or paradigm-shifting effects. These effects can occur across three main dimensions: the politics (short-term discursive shifts), policy (medium-term changes in policy priorities), and polity (long-term institutional reconfigurations) of the EU. As such, the study offers a critical lens for understanding the evolving nature and relation between geopoliticization and European governance.