Setbacks in climate change negotiations may signal dire straits for ‘normative power Europe’

The European Union has often been portrayed as a ‘normative power’ on the international stage, in the sense that it exerts influence using ‘softer’ mechanisms such as leading by example. Alexander Ruser writes that this conception of EU power has increasingly come under strain due to deadlock over global climate change negotiations – an issue which has been central to the EU’s normative strategy. With the Eurozone crisis also reducing Europe’s economic weight in the international arena, the EU’s normative power may be waning.