The EU and Contested Statehood in its Neighbourhood: Actorness, Presence and State-Building

Since the early stages of the inception of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) the EU had to face difficult issues of contested statehood that resulted from the collapse of former-Yugoslavia. The re-launch of European integration in the post-Maastricht era has triggered a significant volume of scholarship focusing beyond the borders of the EU. As with studies on internal matters of European integration, the centrality of the Westphalian state within EU affairs has resulted in an increasing focus on states. Yet, the engagement of the EU in conflict or post-conflict regions in the wider European periphery has confronted policy makers in Brussels with a significant number of cases of ‘contested statehood’: self-declared states that lack diplomatic recognition, cannot maintain effective control over their respective territory and cannot exercise their authority due to weak state institutions. Throughout the years, the EU has deployed different tools, policies and mechanisms in order to enhance its state-building role as a way of addressing contested statehood situations that arose both in its own territory and in its near abroad. Despite of this, the way in which the EU deals with contested statehood is still rather under-researched, not least from a comparative perspective. This applies also to the EU’s evolving and fluid ‘actorness’ and the repercussions it has on the EU’s presence in or around contested states. As part of an exciting and emerging research agenda, the core workshop theme seeks to engage with the debate on the EU’s role as a state-builder in cases of contested statehood as well as shed light on how the specificities of contested statehood ‘shape’ the EU impact on the ground.