Effective Multilateralism After Lisbon: The Added Value of the EEAS and the EU Delegation in Vienna

Abstract

Effective multilateralism is a key EU objective, yet it is an elusive concept, inadequately defined in practice. The term ‘effective multilateralism’ is replete with conceptual issues. Moreover, the notion that international entities can be actors in their own right is also essentially contested. National governments, for example, typically describe multilateralism from the perspective of the state (Keohane, 1990), yet the European Union Security Strategy of 2003 (Solana, 2003) treats it as a key concept of specific import to the EU as a global actor. In sum this formal EU goal, which has never been adequately operationalised as a practical EU ambition, deserves comprehensive analysis.