ABSTRACT
Treating the EEAS as a classical bureaucracy with interests in survival, budget increases and ‘bureau shaping’ identifies the real causes of perceived ineffective operation. The chapter highlights how the conflicts with external, competing EU-level institutions in the early years of the EEAS impact the internal structures of the EEAS. Control exercised by supporting as well as competitive actors strongly determines the new organisation’s ability to operate in the rebalancing structures of EU external action.
