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The ‘Oops!’ of EU Engagement Abroad

Analyzing Unintended Consequences of EU External Action

Bibliographic Data

ID6281000
AuthorsOlga Burlyuk (0000-0002-7477-1655, Ghent University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume55
Issue5
Pages1009-1025
Publication date2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJCMS Journal of Common Market Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9886 • E-ISSN: 1468-5965
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jcms.12549
OpenAlexW2587635165
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited33

The mainstream scholarship assessing EU external action frames the subject in terms of success or failure to achieve the intended effects, the latter generally defined against the EU's own stated objectives. Resting on a tacit assumption that EU engagement in third states is a good thing, these analyses are framed as ‘positive impact or no impact’ and tend to neglect the wider effects of EU policies. This article maintains that EU external action may and often does have unintended consequences, thus expanding the study of EU impact beyond the sheer study of EU effectiveness. Drawing on broader literature on unintended consequences, the article proposes a framework for analyzing unintended consequences of EU external action. It synthesizes and adapts to the EU context a classification of unintended consequences and, in order to illustrate its utility, applies the proposed framework to three empirical examples derived from EU neighbourhood, migration and trade policies

Action (physics · Business · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Law and economics · Mainstream · Neglect · Order (exchange · Political science · Public economics · Scholarship · Unintended consequences · European Union Policy and Governance · International Development and Aid · Law · Psychology · Regional Development and Policy

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Unique citing works22
Citations per year3,67
Citation span2020 - 2026 (7)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 22
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