ABSTRACT
In Chapters 2 and 3, I illustrated how the external projection of regulated spaces of interaction – tied to regional integration and civilian/normative power narratives – has long been an essential part of the EU’s external relations. Before the Lisbon Treaty this external projection of internal interaction spaces mostly occurred in trade and development policy. Diplomacy, on the other hand, was a national policy field, conducted bilaterally by the member-states or intergovernmentally. This has changed through the establishment of the EEAS – and diplomacy became of interest to studies of EU external relations. I use here a critical geopolitical approach to the study of EU diplomacy. Conceiving of diplomacy as social practice instead of official scripts requires a research approach different to the study of texts. It requires more direct, immediate research methods, such as interviews, ethnography and participant observation. It also requires attention to detail and a thorough understanding of the places, contextualities and social dynamics within which diplomacy is enacted. ‘Situating diplomatic practices explicitly in the places where they physically take place’, Kuus (2014, 38) argues, ‘allows insights into the interpersonal aspects of geopolitical knowledge production that remain overlooked in traditional accounts’.
