ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between the European Union's (EU's) world-view and its developing 'strategic actorness' in the face of revisionist challenges to its principles, its standing internationally and its systemic goals and aspirations. It then examines the content of the latest iteration of the EU's strategic agenda before developing the nature of the revisionist challenge. The chapter shows that the EU strategic agenda is 'principle-driven' but that the EU is actively redefining its goals in a more pragmatic, interest-based manner. Russia is a good example of a powerful state actor that poses direct challenges to accepted rules and practices within the international system and the EU's vision about the type of international system it wishes to shape and maintain. China is a more complex actor than Russia, providing a more complex challenge to the EU and the international system as a whole.
