IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v61y2023i4p988-1006.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Catalytic Power Europe: Blended Finance in European External Action

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Prontera
  • Rainer Quitzow

Abstract

The global influence of the European Union (EU) has been debated in overlapping strands of literature as ‘normative’, ‘regulatory’ and ‘market power’. They identify the diffusion of its rules and standards as a vehicle of European power. We argue that European power extends beyond its regulatory capacities and includes new ‘catalytic’ capacities in the realm of financing and network building. We analyse blended finance as an instrument of ‘catalytic power’, defined as the mobilisation of partners and their resources to pursue external objectives. The analysis reveals that financial leverage, the original motivation behind the tool's creation, has declined in importance. Instead, blended finance is designed to facilitate and structure cooperation with other European and multilateral financial institutions, positioning the European Commission as a central node in international cooperation and increasing its influence in this sphere. The article closes with a discussion of blended finance as a tool of catalytic power and related trade‐offs.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Prontera & Rainer Quitzow, 2023. "Catalytic Power Europe: Blended Finance in European External Action," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 988-1006, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:61:y:2023:i:4:p:988-1006
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13442
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13442
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.13442?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bradford, Anu, 2015. "Exporting standards: The externalization of the EU's regulatory power via markets," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 158-173.
    2. Andrea Prontera & Rainer Quitzow, 2022. "The EU as catalytic state? Rethinking European climate and energy governance," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 517-531, May.
    3. Ole Winckler Andersen & Irene Basile & Antonie de Kemp & Gunnar Gotz & Erik Lundsgaarde & Magdalena Orth, 2019. "Blended Finance Evaluation: Governance and Methodological Challenges," OECD Development Co-operation Working Papers 51, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manuele Citi & Caroline de la Porte, 2022. "NGEU and Vaccines Strategy in the Wake of the COVID‐19 Pandemic: Outgrowing the Regulatory State," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(S1), pages 101-113, September.
    2. Sandra Eckert, 2021. "The European Green Deal and the EU's Regulatory Power in Times of Crisis," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(S1), pages 81-91, September.
    3. Erforth, Benedikt, 2020. "The future of European development banking: What role and place for the European Investment Bank?," IDOS Discussion Papers 11/2020, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    4. Jean-Charles Hourcade & Dipak Dasgupta & Frédéric Ghersi, 2021. "Accelerating the speed and scale of climate finance in the post-pandemic context," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(10), pages 1383-1397, November.
    5. Kastratovic, Radovan, 2019. "Impact of foreign direct investment on greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture of developing countries," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(3), July.
    6. Cecere, Grazia & Martinelli, Arianna, 2017. "Drivers of knowledge accumulation in electronic waste management: An analysis of publication data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 925-938.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:61:y:2023:i:4:p:988-1006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.