The Quest for European Leadership in a Turbulent World

The purpose of this sabbatical is to complete a research monograph on the changing nature of European foreign policy leadership. The book presents a new theory of European leadership governance applied across a range of salient political issues, including Brexit, transatlantic relations and European security. The book synthesizes theoretical arguments and empirical findings from my work over the last decade on European foreign policy analysis to answer the key question when and why political leadership is necessary to enable common European action in foreign policy.

The European Union is currently confronting a wide range of challenges which require political leadership to mobilize collective foreign policy action. But what does European leadership mean, and who can exercise it, and how?

These questions are of critical importance to the academic study of the European Union as a global actor, however, research has largely been lacking to address them. Hence, this book addresses these theoretical and empirical gaps and advances a new theory of European leadership governance. The book expands with new findings from my long-standing research on European leadership and sheds new light on role conflicts and new forms of leadership practices emerging in the EU foreign policy system after Lisbon.

The sabbatical will be conducted at two world-leading European centres at Harvard and Oxford, which provides an optimal opportunity to conclude the book.