The Soft Power Sources Of The European Union: Challenges And Opportunities

This article argues that due to the uniqueness of the European Union as an international actor, its soft power sources, as conceptualized by Joseph Nye (2004), pose specific challenges, but some exceptional opportunities as well with regard to the Eastern neighbourhood. Therefore, the soft power sources, identified as “culture”, “political institutions” and “foreign policy” (Nye, 2004) are explored in the case of the EU. Firstly, although it is difficult to refer to a “European culture” that can inspire a “European dream” abroad, the European cultural diversity becomes an asset as the countries in the Eastern neighbourhood are in transition to democracy. Secondly, the European institutions constitute a highly prized soft power source due to the identification of the EU with innovative structures such as the European Commission or the European Parliament. Nevertheless, the “neighbour partner” status is regarded as downgraded in comparison with the “candidate country” position, as the former rank means restriction on the full usage of the European political framework. Last but not least, the EU foreign policy is another well regarded soft power source, but evaluated at times as being too “timid”. This deductive approach uses the method of discourse and official documents analysis.