Role identity and the Europeanisation of foreign policy

This chapter sets out to explore the research problem using a political-cultural approach and seeks to illuminate the cognitive mind-maps with which policy-makers interpret their political 'realities'. It provides a brief discussion of national and European role conceptions, based on a comparative study of British, French and German foreign policy in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Role conceptions could metaphorically be thought of as 'road maps' which facilitate the foreign policymaker's navigation through a complex political reality. The stability of the European Union (EU) as a foreign policy actor is dependent on the member states consistently adopting common role conceptions and modifying their behaviour according to each others' roles and expectations. If a Europeanisation of foreign policy is taking place, we would anticipate that member states would be adopting position roles that increase the predictability of foreign policy and stable expectations.