ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the European Union (EU) has reconceptualised its role as an international security actor in response to shifting global dynamics. It traces the EU’s transition from an outward-looking entity promoting security, democracy and prosperity in the early 2000s to a more pragmatic and defensive stance in recent years. The chapter argues that external pressures and internal constraints have driven the EU to prioritise its own security over projecting norms abroad. This discursive shift, from a liberal multilateralist to a geopolitically oriented actor, reveals the EU’s adaptation to a complex and contested international environment.
