By Hélène B. Ducros
An introduction to a special topic on A Role for Europe in the Global Arena.
GlobalEurope is happy to celebrate its one-year anniversary with a special issue focused on A Role for Europe in the Global Arena, sponsored by the World Society Foundation (WSF, Zurich, Switzerland). On this occasion, Christian Suter, WSF President, and Patrick Ziltener granted us an interview to discuss the philosophy guiding the Foundation’s efforts at providing assistance and access to researchers from around the world with the aim of consolidating a global society that transcends national boundaries. In the context of a Europe constantly negotiating its established and developing trade and security dependencies, its past and present colonial impulses, and its ambitions as global mediator, the contributors here highlight some central stakes in Europe’s historical and contemporary engagement with the world, revealing its assertive quest to remain both a significant geopolitical actor and a node for dynamic global cultural and economic exchanges. The featured scholars show how, in light of new emerging actors and stresses, Europe operates through a mix of hard and soft power policies and initiatives at various levels of governance, from the local to the EU and beyond.
Through its member-states, Europe has maintained its role in NATO as a balancing force in the face of geopolitical tensions based in part on its reliance on US military power and its growing concerns with achieving strategic autonomy in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. Metehan Tekinırk questions whether the EU can conserve its privileged geopolitical status as other actors have come to influence multilateral and bilateral relationships, whether in trade or security. Moreover, to support its military and industrial effort, Europe finds itself in dire need of raw materials and energy. Together, Nicholas Ostrum and Eleni Kavvatha et al. trace the historical continuity of European resource dependency, from oil as a defining component of Libya-Germany relations to the new frontier for resource extraction in the European High North. Ostrum uses the decades-long transactional relationship between Germany and Libya to illustrate more generally Europe’s historical reliance on North African energy, also demonstrating how industrial and military demands have often forced European powers to compose with volatile political landscapes to secure vital oil reserves; while in the Arctic territories, Eleni Kavvatha et al. account for the way in which Europe has increasingly positioned itself as a critical stakeholder, attempting to forge an equilibrium between the requisites of its green transition, economic and security interests, and the impact of infrastructural development on land stewardship and the populations depending on northern threatened ecosystems for survival. As shown here, this “scramble for the Arctic” has given rise to contestations and debates about how decisions are made in the EU—especially on the treatment of peripheral territories and marginalized populations—by whom, and whose interests are prioritized. Much further south, in the Sahel, Europe’s lasting influence has evolved from the legacy of colonial rule to the deployment of modern, complex military missions aimed at managing regional security, migration pathways, and detrimental economic dependencies. Sergio Aguilar argues for a correlation between EU military interventions in Burkina Faso and multiple military coups in the country since its independence from France. He exposes that the EU not only failed to bring stability and good governance to the Burkinabe but that the competition between EU and non-EU actors on the ground may have contributed to the political upheaval.
Finally, away from hard power considerations, two contributors analyze the engagement of Europe with the world by examining the diffusion of European ideals and values through vehicles such as film and urban planning models. Describing how the specific institution of the film festival was born in Venice under Benito Mussolini as a way to strengthen a fascist ideology, Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager underlines the role of European film festivals in anchoring a participatory method for debating ideas with viewing audiences across the world. Her review of the history of the international film festival circuit, led by iconic events such as Cannes, Venice, and Berlin reveals how Europe was able to create a world stage for soft power cultural diplomacy, transforming cinema into a conduit for free political expression and cross-border dialogue. The identity of film festivals is often directly tied to the cities that host them, and cities themselves have become actors in the diffusion of European ideals. This is what Charlotte Halpern demonstrates in her article about how European cities and urban planning policies contribute to building Europe’s global influence. In particular, urban mobility initiatives first tried in European cities have been exported transnationally through experimentation, emulation, and borrowing. Public space management, inclusive access, and multimodal mobility constitute shared concerns for city dwellers and municipal governments everywhere in the face of some fundamental issues of our time, such as sustainability, climate mitigation, and livability. While cinema festival events have established Europe as a creator of international artistic standards, European cities have had a normative influence on urban areas beyond borders.
Together, what the researchers included in this special topic confirm is that Europe does not operate as a monolithic entity; instead, it has fostered its relation with the world and elaborated its global role through a complex web of bilateral and multilateral interventions, strategic alliances, and soft-power projects across plural areas—from politically fractured zones in the Sahel and the Maghreb and the competitive resource-driven struggles in the far north, to the diplomatic theaters of transatlantic security, global cinematic screens, and the sharing of best practices in sustainable living. The articles in this special issue explicate an array of ways in which the European continent wrestles with its past while crafting its future role in a changing, multipolar world.
Table of Content
Interview
- The World as Complex Society: An Interview with Christian Suter and Patrick Ziltener, by Hélène B. Ducros
Research
- Geopolitical Change and the Challenges Facing the European Integration Project, by Metehan Tekinırk
- European Cities and the Making of a Sustainable Mobility Model: Innovation, Diffusion, and Future Challenges, by Charlotte Halpern
- Middle Powers and Market Power: Reading the West German-Libyan Petroleum Interdependency in the Current Moment, by Nicholas Ostrum
- Film Festivals: From Fascist Spectacle to Cinematic Resistance, by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager
- Military Coups in Burkina Faso and European Union Missions and Military Assistance, by Sergio Luiz Cruz Aguilar
- Europe in Sápmi: Sámi Knowledge and Epistemic Injustices within the EU’s Green Transition, by Eleni Kavvatha, SaraFusco, Léopold Beyaert, Samaneh Koohestani-Soorchani, Oula-Antti Labba, Daria Mishina, Amandine Orsini, and François Thoreau
Hélène B. Ducros (JD, PhD – University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) is the editor of GlobalEurope Journal.
