Capturing the EU International Performance: an Analytical Framework

Dimitris BourantonisAthens University of Economics and BusinessPaper prepared for the GOSEM Summer School ,

University of Crete, Sep. 2013

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Presence: It reflects the first generation of EU studies concerning the international dimension of the EU.

It connotes the function of EU being there (Allen and Smith 1990).

International presence does not necessarily connote purposive external action, but may derive as an unintended consequence of domestic policy-making processes, like the creation of the EMU or the Single Market.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Actorness: It reflects the second generation of EU studies regarding the EU international dimension

The notion of actorness has taken the debate a step forward. It is the capacity to act; it assumes a deliberative and active functioning in international politics (Jupille and Caporaso 1998; Cosgrove and Twitchett 1970 and others).

It entails internal and external delimitation (that is a degree of independence from the external environment but also a degree of autonomy from the internal constituents. It indicates a political entity capable of formulating purposes, reaching decisions, and engaging in purposive action

It is a relational concept in the sense that its attribution to any political unit is an intersubjective process not only based on own perceptions but also requiring the recognition of the other units (it needs recognition by states, IOs and non-state actors).

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

CRITERIA TO ASSESS ACTORNESS There are different sets of criteria in the literature used to

assess actorness Jupille and Caporaso (1990), for instance, ascertain actorness

on the basis of four criteria: Recognition: acceptance of the EU by other actors as a

legitimate interlocutor Authority : the EU’s legal competence to act in a specific field Cohesion: its capacity to articulate consistent policy preferences Autonomy: capacity to function independently from its

constituent members

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

CRITERIA TO ASSESS ACTORNESS Bretherton and Vogler (2006) propose five basic requirements for

actorness: Shared commitment to a set of overarching values and principles; The formulation of coherent policies; The ability to negotiate effectively with other actors in the international

system; The availability of appropriate policy instruments; The domestic legitimation of decision-making in the relevant fields with

an external dimension. This set is the only one that associates actorness with effective

bargaining, considering it one of the prerequisites for actor capacity. However, this criterion is problematic in the sense that a political unit like EU in lack of bargaining capacity may still be an international actor albeit an ineffective one (see Jorgensen 2009). In other words, limited bargaining capacity does not nullify the actorness potential of the EU.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Issues of EU Effectiveness and Performance: They reflect the current and future generation of EU

studies concerning the EU international dimension. Performance of IOs has emerged as a key concern in

light of the criticism towards IOs that they are undemocratic and lack legitimacy.

In that respect, good performance my justify the existence of IOs that are suffered from the above mentioned shortcomings.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

PERFORMANCE Conceptual differentiation from effectiveness Effectiveness is associated with an organisation’s

ability to achieve certain outcomes (i.e., the output dimension of EU’s interactions with the outside world)

Performance goes deeper by taking into account the underlying, organizational, agreement-reaching processes (the organizational and institutional resources and capacity to meet the objectives).

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Clarifying the concept of performance by the use of examples

-An organization may well meet the agreed objectives –i.e., be effective – even when its overall performance is not very impressive. This may be an indication of low organizational standards, lack of ambition, or simply awareness of internal and external constraints impeding the organization from delivering on the objectives.

-A positive performance in terms of activation and engagement may not be judged effective because the original goals are very ambitious and difficult to achieve or are not congruent with the scarce organizational resources and the capacity to act (remember the well-spotted ‘capabilities-expectations gap’).

-Therefore, effectiveness is only one possible indicator - among others- to evaluate performance. 8

From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

The assessment of Performance of IOs depends a lot on the evaluator, internal and external. (Gutner and Thompson 2010). Different stakeholders may have different preferences and different perceptions of what the IO is about and what it should do in the world. Given that the IO usually serve multiple functions and have broad mandates, the constituent principals differ in what they consider success and failure. The heterogeneity of stakeholders (i,e., member-states) guarantees internal differentiation in the evaluation of its goal attainment and international performance.

- Even an evaluation of an IO from the outside world is rather problematic in the sense that the external community sometimes ignore the inherent difficulties of a multilateral order like the EU to intersect with other such orders, like the UN.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Performance: What we are trying to analyze and evaluate

This may sounds a trivial question but is not. It brings to the foreground two important issues:

focus and level of analysis. While the focus is on the external dimension of the

EU we cannot easily capture side-effects of the EU’s external engagement and, more than that, we cannot capture the consequences of repetitive games, the process-generated benefits and costs, the gradual built-up of learning and socialization processes that have a long time horizon.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Three Levels of Performance Analysis In terms of the level of analysis, we can

identify three different performance perspectives, looking at the output, outcome and impact of the EU international activities. They constitute three distinctive steps in a causal chain of events.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

The output perspective (the micro- level) -The output is related with the intra-EU process of policy

formation, focusing on the deliverables of internal and institutional dynamics that inform the EU international engagement.

-the output could be (a) a formal comprehensive policy document outlining the EU

position in a field or in international affairs more generally (I;e., the European Security Strategy document)

(b) it could be very-narrow-focused, like a statement or a Council decision on an intended course of action in a regional crisis

- The outcome constitutes the starting point of the outcome and impact analysis.

-Without the output is very difficult to make a case about performance (output therefore is a sine qua non condition).

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

Output: performance indicators Clarity: it suggests that EU member-states have a clear view on

what needs to or can be done and how to do it. Meaningfulness: meaningful outputs entail an EU response fine-

tuned with the actual problem (consider, for example, how meaningful is an EU decision to send special envoys in a fact finding mission or to monitor the escalation of a regional crisis.

Relevance: the degree of the EU responsiveness to the issue in question.

Inclusiveness: is linked with relevance and ensures the synthesis of divergent views rather than the marginalization and alienation of stakeholders.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

The Outcome perspective (the meso-level) -It is about the EU international activation along the output lines and

captures how the EU takes this output to the international level. -It may take the form of active international engagement (diplomatic,

economic, military) in pursuit of a given objective, like the handling of a regional security crisis or the combating of an identified security threat.

-Additionally, it may comprise initiatives of creating new or adjusting existing international policies, in congruence with the EU norms, principles and interests, by contributing to the building up or reforming of IOs (Young, 1999).

Attention: these outcomes do not necessarily lead to problem solving. The emphasis of the outcome perspective is on the EU efforts and actions and whether they carry out the agreed outputs and not on their impact. 14

From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

The Outcome Indicators Cohesion and continuity: Consider, for example, the case of

economic sanctions imposed as a result of a Council decision to a regime violating human rights while at the same time the country in question continues to receive developmental aid from EU relevant programs handled by the Commission.

Proper use of available instruments Supply of international leadership The first two indicators link the outcome with the output perspective. The last two mostly refer to how the EU seeks to realize the output.

Both are indicators of decisiveness and reveal the intention to become a more substantive international actor.

There is a positive correlation between these three indicators and outcome performance.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

The Impact Perspective (the macro-level) Impact= the result (effect) of the EU international

activities (such as the handling of individual crises or the formation and reform of IOs and regimes.

Methodologically speaking, the challenge in this perspective is to establish causality between the EU actions and the changed environment (and then credit the EU for the effects). The underlying counterfactual question that we should bear in mind and seek to address is what would have happened if the EU had not intervened.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

The Impact Perspective (the macro-level) Impact= the result (effect) of the EU international

activities (such as the handling of individual crises or the formation and reform of IOs and regimes.

Methodologically speaking, the challenge in this perspective is to establish causality between the EU actions and the changed environment (and then credit the EU for the effects). The underlying counterfactual question that we should bear in mind and seek to address is what would have happened if the EU had not intervened.

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual SojournTHREE TYPES OF STANDARD TO ASSESS THE EU IMPACT

Goal attainment which entails an assessment on the basis of the formal organizational goals indentified in the output.

Often, to avoid reputational costs of ‘bad performance’, goals are intentionally low=level and thus easily achieved.

Problem-solving: is a more ambitious standard of impact performance that associates performance with the progress towards resolving an issue as defined by the originators and stakeholders of an organization. For example, for the EU brokeing a ceasefire in a regional imbroglio may be an indication of successful

Collective optima: this standard is even more ambitious that the former two, raising further the threshold of ‘good performance’. For example, orchestrating an international response to the Iranian nuclear program may have well gained some praise for the EU but has not settled the issue

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From Presence to Actorness to Performance: A Conceptual Sojourn

THREE TYPES OF STANDARD TO ASSESS THE EU IMPACT Effectiveness captures the degree of goal attainment for the EU,

whoever defines the goal and whatever its content may be. -Efficiency captures the ratio of used resources to their actual

impact, implying that given the scarcity of EU resources, their marginal utility should be also taken in to consideration when evaluating the impact performance of the EU (Oberthur and Jorgensen, 2011).

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