ABSTRACT
This book examines the paradox that the European Union (EU) on the one hand produces policies with strategic qualities, but on the other hand lacks many of the institutions and concepts that would enable it to engage in strategic reasoning and action proper. While suggestive of the eventual findings of our own collaborative research effort as well as that of others, this first chapter concentrates on laying out the conceptual and theoretical basis for exploring the paradox and a number of questions associated with it. It discusses the characteristics of the EU as a strategic actor using both a traditional, ‘Machiavellian’ understanding and a modern, holistic conception.
