ABSTRACT
The previous chapter has traced the evolution of European integration, in particular with respect to the development of instruments for the collective conduct of external relations, eventually leading to the creation of the EEAS. In this chapter, I will trace how the development of these instruments has been accompanied and shaped by related geopolitical discourses, creating visions and ambitions, and justifying legitimacy for the EU as a global actor. The analysis presented in this book is situated within the wider school of thought of critical geopolitics. It seeks to capture how geopolitics is historically and spatially conditioned, how it is framed by wider political and economic constellations, how it is embedded in local and wider international contexts, and how it is constituted both materially and representationally (see Introduction). Within this broader understanding of geopolitics, this book emphasises the social construction of geopolitics. I study perceptions and interactions, the practices and processes of how collective European diplomacy is enacted by key individuals of African-European relations in Nairobi. In terms of the tripartite differentiation of critical geopolitics into formal, practical and popular spheres (see Introduction), the focus of this book is on the practical sphere of how collective EU agency is enacted and perceived.
