Ambition, meet reality: The European Union’s actorness in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

The European Union is undergoing a major transformation as it strives to be perceived as a credible geopolitical actor, along with being an economic and normative superpower. Its ‘Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific’ is symptomatic of this change as it far surpasses strategic outlooks it has for other developing regions. This article builds on the actorness literature as it examines the nature of the European Union’s growing ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. It focuses on the economic, security, and normative aspects of the Strategy, and it identifies the tensions, opportunities and challenges in its vision and implementation. The article concludes by arguing that although there are opportunities for greater engagement with the region, they have grown more complicated given the war in Ukraine. Moreover, much will also depend on recalibrating the European Union’s relationship with China, as well as finding the most effective way to leverage the affordances of transatlantic cooperation.