ABSTRACT
We have sought to understand how values and principles shape, and are shaped
by, EU foreign policy relations with the rest of the world. Nobel peace prize
laureate, John Hume, argued that it is the duty of everyone to understand the
principles of the EU in order to resolve conflict worldwide. African aid cam-
paigner, Bono, has reversed this argument in order to advocate that addressing
the problems of Africa would give the EU a chance to re-describe its values
system in a more positive way. Both of these voices from outside of academic
debate remind us of the importance of valuing principles in the study of EU
foreign policy. To conclude, we will try to value principles by considering what
our analysis of EU foreign policy tells us about the EU as a normative political
and social system. As stated at the outset, this book was aimed at providing
some answers to these under-researched questions of the relationships between
values, principles, foreign policy, the international identity of the EU (i.e. the
way in which the EU is constituted, constructed and represented inter-
nationally), and the political identity of the Europeans.