EU Foreign Relations Federalism. A comparison with the United States, Canada and Belgium.

Federal states and the EU as a federation of states face the problem of forging a coherent foreign policy for an internally differentiated polity. Traditionally, it was believed that federations should act at the international level as one unified actor. Recently federated entities are, however, granted an increasingly important role in external relations. This PhD thesis explores whether and, if yes, to which extent different federal systems have adapted their constitutional and institutional structures to this recent development or whether the traditional credo of internal diversity, external unitystill stands. This question is addressed through a comparative legal enquiry, in which the place that foreign policy occupies within different federal states and the EU as a federal actor is examined. The federal states chosen as main comparators are Belgium, the USA, and Canada. Drawing on the comparative analysis, a number of suggestions for reform are advanced aimed at simultaneously bolstering the effectiveness and the legitimacy of EU foreign policy.

Publication year:2019

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