Knowledge power Europe

Abstract

In the longstanding debate over how to characterize the EU as a global actor, knowledge is conspicuously missing. We introduce the term Knowledge Power Europe to emphasize the importance of knowledge for the EU’s foreign policy efforts, particularly as they relate to addressing the urgent and complex global challenges that have become central to the EU’s global strategy. Conceptually, we show how considering the EU as a knowledge power can help overcome the limitations of other EU power concepts, and empirically, we justify our characterization by providing evidence of the use and role of knowledge in terms of what the EU is, says, and does. We conclude by discussing how a knowledge power approach can help advance an understanding of the EU’s capacity for global leadership and power in global governance efforts.