The debate on the European Union as a Normative Power (NPE) has been running for more than a decade.  At the same time, studies of the EU as a normative power have been conducted in three major research projects. These two lines of research have been running relatively independently of each other.  I will argue that the studies of external perceptions of the EU offer some findings that are central for the NPE debate.  I will also contend that the external perceptions literature points to a limited perception of the EU as a normative power depending on the geographical area. Finally the question is asked as to whether the thin and geographically varied character of the perceptions relating to the EU as a normative power justifies the general designation of NPE.

Henrik Larsen is professor and Jean Monnet Chair in the Department of Political Science at Copenhagen University, Denmark. His research interests are foreign policy analysis, discourse analysis and foreign policy, EU and EU member states' foreign policy. He is the author of Discourse Analysis and Foreign Policy: France, Britain and Europe (Routledge, 1997), Analysing Small State Foreign Policy in the EU: the Case of Denmark (Palgrave, 2005) and Gaps in EU foreign policy - The Role of Concepts in European Studies (Palgrave, forthcoming). He has published articles in European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Common Market Studies,Cooperation and Conflict and the Australian Journal of International Affairs. Henrik Larsen is currently a visiting researcher at the ANU Centre for European Studies (ANUCES).

Lunch will be provided at the seminar after the Q&A session.