Conceptually Defining “Global Strategic Partner(ship)”

Meltem Muftuler-Bac, Senem Aydin-Duzgit, Ezgi Uzun, Benjamin Martill, Alexander Mesarovich & Gaspard Schnitzler

This working paper provides an assessment of the European Union’s (EU’s) global strategic partners by putting forward a theoretical and conceptual definition of strategic partnership.

The paper identifies the EU’s global strategic partners both in terms of those which are defined within a legal framework and those that are selected on a more ad-hoc basis.

The paper’s conceptual examination of the term “strategic partner(ship)” and identification of the EU’s global strategic partners aligns with the main objectives of the ENGAGE project: assisting the EU’s foreign policy by allowing a more structured engagement with other countries, thereby enhancing the EU’s ability to play a more assertive role in effectively and sustainably meeting strategic challenges in global politics.

This paper’s focus on the differences across multiple strategic partners, both formally identified and informally treated, with respect to their engagement with the EU highlights the challenges the EU faces in its foreign policy and global standing.

Those challenges are explored in the paper in terms of the relevant forms of cooperation and conflict between the EU, its Member States and their respective global strategic partners.