Foreign Ministries in the European Union

BRIAN HOCKING is Professor of International Relations at Coventry University and has previously taught in Australia, North America and Europe. His research interests focus on the interaction between domestic and international forces in the conduct of foreign and foreign economic policy. Publications include Localizing Foreign Policy: Non-Central Governments and Multilayered Diplomacy; Beyond Foreign Economic Policy: The United States and the Single European Market (with M.H. Smith); and Foreign Ministries: Change and Adaptation. DAVID SPENCE is Special Advisor to th

What role, if any, does the foreign ministry perform in contemporary world politics? Foreign Ministries in the European Union explores this theme in the context of the EU where foreign ministry has played a key role in the development of integration but where its role is increasingly questioned.What role, if any, does the foreign ministry perform in contemporary world politics? Is the argument that it is in a state of terminal decline accurate or rooted in only partial understandings of its changing character? Foreign Ministries in the European Union explores this theme in the context of the EU where foreign ministry has played a key role in the development of integration but where its role is increasingly questioned. The contributors examine the foreign ministry in thirteen member states and draw conclusions that challenge some conventional wisdoms.