Introduction

It is not at all obvious that what the member states of the European Union (EU) do collectively in the realm of foreign policy is more important than what they do separately, in groupings or alone. Yet what has attracted most attention in academic and policy circles over the last three decades is common European foreign policy, or EU foreign policy for short, eclipsing this way our understanding of both what member states do in concert, and what they do independently. Beyond exaggerating the significance of EU foreign policy, we may this way have misread the autonomy of member states to work together ad hoc, among themselves or with third states, and pursue their foreign policy goals outside EU foreign policy. Given how crucial foreign policy is for enacting sovereign statehood, it is strange not to consider the full spectrum of options that member states possess in the realm of foreign policy, whether one is interested in understanding collective or individual foreign policy of member states, or both.

This chapter seeks to address this anomaly by theorizing European foreign policy beyond the EU. It develops a new perspective to think about foreign policy options, within and outside EU foreign policy, to allow for a systematic assessment of their use and relative weight. It explores ad hoc cooperation, or minilateralism, to illustrate foreign policy action beyond EU foreign policy and the paradigm of unity that underpins it. The chapter conceives of minilateralism as a function of rival visions about foreign policy ends and uneven possession of means to attain them.