Two Norms Collide: EU Policy on Fragile and Conflict‐Affected Countries

Abstract

The European Union's (EU's) policy towards fragile and conflict‐affected (FCA) countries has been framed by a normative solidarity narrative that promotes and legitimises collective action. Over the past two decades, the EU's commitment to protecting the security of its citizens has increasingly become a strong, competing normative driver of EU engagement in FCA countries. In tracing its evolution, this symposium article shows how the collision of the ‘solidarity’ and ‘protection’ norms has shaped the EU's approach towards state fragility. We illustrate this by discussing the policy frameworks for the EU's engagements in Mali and Libya. We argue that whilst the increasing relative strength of the protection norm has not united EU Member States around a common set of objectives, the solidarity norm has proven to be resilient at the discursive level. However, the increasing prevalence of the protection norm has weakened the solidarity norm's influence on policy practice. This has had systemic effects and contributed to incoherencies in the EU's foreign policy approach.