Undermining a Rules-Based International Order Through Geopolitics? The EU’s New Geopolitical Approach to Peace and Security

The EU has supported a rules-based international order mainly through promoting its own liberal multilateral system, focusing on normative power and liberal-minded institution-building in its neighbourhood. Instruments like the African Peace Facility (APF) are aimed to enhance Africa’s peace and security architecture (APSA) rather than serve geopolitical interests. In this regard, the EU was crafting a rule-based order through supporting institution-building focusing on input legitimacy (institutions as rules). The transition from the APF to the European Peace Facility (EPF) marks a pivotal shift towards a more geopolitical EU, concentrating on output effectiveness. For example, we can see that the geographical focus of the EPF is predominantly on Ukraine and its direct support for military ad hoc coalitions in Africa leaves the AU at the side-lines. This paper critically examines the consequences of the shift from APF to EPF, honing in on the consequences for liberal institutions such as the APSA.