Understanding the added value of European diplomatic coordination: a relational perspective

The Lisbon Treaty in 2009 constitutes to date the most far-reaching attempt to improve the diplomatic standing of the EU and its member states. EU member states created the European External Action Service (EEAS) as a quasi-foreign ministry, and equipped it with a diplomatic network of 135 EU delegations to third countries. These diplomatic bodies, however, do not just add to or replace EU member states diplomacy but they establish a sub-system of diplomatic coordination. This paper adapts a relational perspective by applying social network analysis to a novel dataset on European diplomacy. It scrutinizes the variation in added value of European diplomatic coordination for the EU, its member states and international diplomacy, but also reflects on the applicability of relational approaches in European foreign policy analysis.