The Politics of Critical Raw Materials in the European Union: Geopolitical Interests and Policy Form

Critical raw materials (CRMs) have become increasingly strategic in recent decades, driven by geopolitical dynamics. The European Union (EU) has expanded supranational action in this area through the Critical Raw Materials Act and partnerships with third countries. Yet we still know little about how cross-national differences among member states shape the form of EU CRM policy. Drawing on a new dataset of EU CRM-related policy documents, this study offers a comparative large-N analysis of EU CRM-related policies from 1993 to 2023. It explores how variation in member states' geopolitical interests is associated with whether EU CRM policies take security, industrial, or environmental forms. The study contributes to the literature on EU political economy and advances our understanding of EU CRM policy and the geopolitics of member states.