The European Union’s International Promotion of LGBTI Rights

'For more than a decade, an increasingly sophisticated literature has charted the effect that the EU has on LGBTI rights in its own member and accession states. This book is the biggest step yet toward a new frontier, one that looks at the EU’s impact on such rights far beyond its borders. Written by an expert on the inner and outer workings for the EU, and the varied positions of the member states, Thiel makes sense of the Janus-faced nature of EU foreign policy on LGBTI rights. He looks critically at the normative implications of such norm promotion, while not throwing out the simultaneous importance of an LGBTI foreign policy that activists could have only imagined some decades ago. Taking seriously the empirics and the process, this critical reading shines a light on the potential of softer social mechanisms of change—as opposed to hard conditionality—that should guide IOs in refining the ways they seek to make a positive impact in the world, as well as identifying their limits in doing so.'

Phillip M. Ayoub, Associate Professor at Occidental College, USA, and author of When States Come Out

‘This book is a significant addition to the literature on the EU’s human rights policy. Thiel critically analyses the EU’s attempts to diffuse norms of LGBTI rights, in Europe and beyond, and exposes the weaknesses in both internal and external LGBTI rights promotion. Importantly, he demonstrates that the EU’s policies can backfire, and generate contestation by external actors, which in turn can damage the rights of LGBTI people on the ground. He calls for a more reflective and intersectional EU practice, within a broader foreign policy prioritising support for democracy.’

Karen E. Smith, Professor and Head of the Department of International Relations at LSE, UK