The High Representative as a Policy Entrepreneur During Drafting and Implementation of the European Union’s Global Strategy

The paper examines the involvement of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Issues in the preparations and implementation process of the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS) and challenges the predominant view reflected in the literature of the HR being solely a constrained agent of the national capitals as a collective principal. Against this backdrop, the paper introduces a category of a policy entrepreneur defined as someone who develops proposals and expertise and is willing to commit resources – time, energy, reputation – in hope for the approval of his ideas (Kingdon, 2003). By making a case for the High Representative as a policy entrepreneur and by tracing the execution of its entrepreneurial functions, it is argued that despite the ambiguity of this position stipulated in the Treaty of Lisbon and constrains resulting from the safeguarding of the decision-making power by the member states, Federica Mogherini managed to enhance discretion in relations to the collective principal and leave her mark during all three stages of the policy process: the preparations, the decision-making and the implementation the EUGS.