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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. 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.
    2. 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.
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    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
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    Cited by:

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    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Thomas Conzelmann & Sophie Vanhoonacker, 2026. "The European Union in a Geo‐Economic World: Towards a New Inter‐Institutional Balance?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 511-532, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Sergio Mariotti, 2025. "“Open strategic autonomy” as an industrial policy compass for the EU competitiveness and growth: The good, the bad, or the ugly?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 52(1), pages 1-26, March.
    7. Mariev, Oleg & Islam, Md. Monirul, 2025. "The impact of financial stress, governance, and geopolitics on Europe's energy transition mineral trade," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Sjorre Couvreur & Jaša Veselinovič, 2026. "An Evermore Geoeconomic European Union? Exploring Critical Perspectives for Future Research," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 431-448, January.
    9. Manuela Moschella & Lucia Quaglia, 2025. "Much More Than a Report: The Search for Europe's New Political Identity and the Politics of Competitiveness," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(S1), pages 146-152, November.
    10. 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.
    11. Michele Chang, 2025. "The Letta and Draghi Reports: Economic Efficiency Versus Political Exigency," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(S1), pages 131-137, November.
    12. Kathleen R. McNamara & Federico Steinberg, 2026. "Can Europe Sustain a New Rules‐Based Geopolitical Order?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 1624-1634, July.

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