Europe and World Governance: Norms over power

欧洲治理和世界治理 : 权力之上的规范

Zaki Laïdi (1)

1 CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS)

It is generally acknowledged that Europe will not be a super power in the sense of a political-military ensemble on an equal footing with the United States or China. Europeans reject this possibility across the board. Moreover, even if they wanted to go that route, wouldn't it expose them to reproducing on a European scale what they have struggled to combat amongst themselves: the idea of becoming a great power with all the attributes of force and supremacy that such a project implies? So if Europe will not be a super power, how can it be a power at all? Probably by reinforcing what remains its major political resource: its capacity to produce and set up at the global level a system of norms as broad-sweeping as possible that can organize the world, discipline the interplay of its actors, introduce predictability in their behavior, develop among them a sense of collective responsibility, and offer those who engage on this path, particularly the weakest, at least the partial possibility to use these norms as an argument/force* against all, including the world's most powerful. The task may seem colossal, even outrageous. It probably is, but does Europe have any other choice but to assume its responsibility as a normative power? Probably not. [publisher's website]

Domaines: Science politique

Zaki Laïdi. 欧洲治理和世界治理 : 权力之上的规范. 2008. ⟨hal-03389342⟩