THE EXTERNAL IMAGE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. A preliminary survey on the existing sources

none1Progetto coordinato nell'ambito del Network of excellence Garnet (VI P.Q. UE). La ricerca, avviata nel 2005, prosegue nel 2006 e 2007 con la pubblicazione di un numero speciale di European Foreign Affairs Review curato da S. Lucarelli (n. 12, autunno 2007), e da una serie Working Papers della collana Garnet (Aprile 2007). The EU is currently a relevant player in world affairs and its global capacity can be detected in the wide variety of policies and instruments that fall under its competences. The self- and academic representation of the Union, however, emphasise more the “how” rather than the “what” of the Union’s stance in the world. The keyword is “structural prevention”, as leading scholars have claimed. The instruments of such structural prevention are multilateralism, solidarity, democracy and human rights support, sustainable development, constructive engagement, partnership. Furthermore, the Union is also called a unique international actor for what it represents: a model of regional integration. However, if there has been quite an amount of work done on the specificities, strengths and deficiencies of the EU in various foreign policy areas, little has been done to evaluate if this image that the EU has shaped of itself within the Union has produced a similar representation with external actors. The research proposed is a preliminary search and analysis of existing sources on how the rest of the world perceives the EU. In order to do so, this survey will primarily focus on sources such as opinion polls, media releases, official documents, etc. regarding the EU role with respect to particularly sensitive issues such as the fight against poverty, conflict prevention, the promotion of democracy and human rights, international trade. PRELIMINARY SAMPLE OF COUNTRIES PER REGION - Africa: Egypt, South Africa - Asia: China, Japan, India - Americas: Brazil, Canada - Oceania: AustralianoneS. LucarelliS. Lucarell