Shaping EU Foreign Policy Towards Russia

Improving Coherence in External Relations

Philipp Thaler, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Offering a comprehensive and structured analysis of the reasons why the EU lacks external coherence towards Russia, this book presents important new insights to the topic beyond conventional institutionalist arguments. Philipp Thaler utilises key cases in external energy and human rights policies to highlight the on-going difficulties in creating a coherent position, despite the EU’s formally stated objective to achieve this.

‘The quest for coherence is perennial in EU foreign policy. Philipp Thaler gives this ambiguous concept the full analytical treatment providing a conceptually clear and empirically rich account of the EU’s Russia policy in the process. The book is recommended reading to anyone interested in understanding the problems in the EU’s common foreign and security policy better.’
– Hiski Haukkala, Tampere University, Finland