About us

This online resource guide for researchers, practitioners and students is a comprehensive guide through the maze of information sources on EU foreign policy.
The resources are structured thematically. Every section and sub-section in the left side bar or header offers official EU documents and EU links, links to other organizations, NGO’s and think tanks, and academic references.
The list with academic resources is not exhaustive but contains basic books and special issues of main journals dealing with EU foreign policy.

The website also serves as a website companion to the book The Foreign Policy of the European Union by Stephan Keukeleire and Jennifer MacNaughtan (Palgrave 2008).
It offers PowerPoint presentations for each chapter of the book, updated figures and tables on EU foreign policy and resources and further reading for class work, papers and dissertations for educational purposes.

This website is a Jean Monnet Action and has recieved funding from the European Community. It has been developed under the Jean Monnet Chair on 'European Integration and European Foreign Policy' 2006-2009 and further elaborated under the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on 'the European Union, Foreign Policy and Global Governance' 2008-2011.

The project also has received funding from the Institute for International and European Policy and for educational purposes from the "Master of European Politics and Policies" and the "Master of European Studies", University of Leuven.

Staff:

Stephan KEUKELEIRE is the academic coordinator of this online resource guide "Exploring EU Foreign Policy". He is a Jean Monnet Professor in European Foreign Policy at the University of Leuven (Institute for International and European Policy) where he is the Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on "The European Union, Foreign Policy and Global Governance", Academic Director of the "Master of European Studies: Transnational and Global Perspectives" and Co-Director of the "Master of European Politics and Policies". Stephan Keukeleire is also a board member of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium).
Stephan Keukeleire used to be a part-time member of the Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004-05) and is a former assistant to a Member of the European Parliament (1985-94). His research focuses on various dimensions of (European) foreign policy: the conceptualizing and analysis of (European) foreign policy in a 21st century context; structural foreign policy; the EU’s inter-pillar foreign policy; CFSP; the role of networks and contact groups in EU foreign policy.
He has written books and articles on European foreign policy, European security, European institutions and decision-making. His last publication, together with Jennifer MacNaughtan, is "The Foreign Policy of the European Union" (Palgrave, 'The European Union Series', 2008). (Bibliography)

Björn KOOPMANS (BA in social policy, Sociale Hogeschool KVMW Ghent and MA in political sciences - international relations, University Ghent) is the Coordinator of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on "The European Union, Foreign Policy and Global Governance".  He is currently involved in research on the EU's environmental policy and the EU's foreign policy at the Institute for International and European Policy, University of Leuven. His research interests are i.a. enhanced cooperation and flexible integration in general, implementation of EU law and global governance structures.

Arnout JUSTAERT (MA in political sciences, K.U.L. and MA in European studies, U.C.L) is a junior researcher and programme co-ordinator of the Master in de vergelijkende en internationale politiek at the Institute for International and European Policy, K.U.Leuven. His research includes the external relations and foreign policy of the EU and European immigration and asylum policy (and related aspects such as the protection of the Union’s external borders, the free movement of persons in the EU, etc...).
In his PhD research, Arnout Justaert will focus on ‘policy networks’, ‘network governance’ and informal relations in EU foreign policy towards the African Great Lakes Region, and more in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Recent publications:

  • Keukeleire, S., & Justaert, A. (2008, 24-26 April) Policy Networks and the Analysis of EU Foreign Policy. Paper presented at the GARNET Conference 'The European Union in International Affairs', Brussels.
  • Justaert, A., & Nasra, S. (2008, 17 June) EU Foreign Policy: Exploring the integrative potential of the Lisbon Treaty. Paper presented at the Postgraduate Workshop "The European Union after the Reform Treaty: a new era?", University of London.

(full bibliography) (Bio)

Kolja RAUBE has studied political science and public Law at the Philipps-University Marburg (Germany),
the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) and University of Hamburg
(Germany). He was Visiting Student at the European University Institute (Italy, 2005) and recieved his PhD at the University of Hamburg (Germany, 2006). Before joining the Centre for European Studies to become the Programme Coordinator of the Master of European Studies: Transnational and Global Perspectives, he was Research Assistant at the University of Hamburg (2006-2008) and was affiliated with ARENA's EuroTrans Project. Kolja's main fields of interests are the CFSP (including the ESDP) and the constitutional politics of the EU. He has written his doctoral thesis on the constitutional foreign policy of the EU (published at Nomos in 2007).

Roos VAN DE CRUYS (MA in political sciences, K.U.L. and MA in European studies, FUSL) worked at the Institute for International and European Policy, University of Leuven, during the academic year 2007-08 and was responsible for the implementation of the Jean Monnet Activities, including the design of the website project 'Exploring Europe' and updating the online content of the website 'Exploring EU foreign policy'.

Currently, she works at the  Flemish Foreign Affairs Council of the Flemish government.

Robin THIERS (MA in political sciences, K.U.L) worked at the Institute for International and European Policy, University of Leuven, during the academic year 2008-09 and was responsible for the implementation of the Jean Monnet Activities, including updating the online content of the website 'Exploring EU foreign policy'.

Currently, he works for the Departement of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Flemish Community in preparation of the Belgian EU-Presidency in 2010.

Rouba AL-FATTAL is a Syrian-Canadian Ph.D. Candidate doing her research at the Institute for International and European Policy at the University of Leuven under the supervision of Prof. Stephan Keukeleire. Rouba has previously obtained from Canada a B.A. (with honours) in international politics at McGill University and an advanced M.A. in European politics at Montreal University. Her doctoral thesis tackles democracy promotion policy by the West in the Palestinian Territory and its effects on Palestinians trust in democracy, the West and their leader's legitimacy. Rouba has also gained significant field experience having done prestigious internships at the Canadian Mission to the EU, the Security and Defence Agenda and the NATO-Parliamentary Assembly. Rouba is an associate editor of the Central European Journal for International and Security Studies. She has also published, lectured and worked as a research assistant and project manager at various institutions including HIVA and McGill University. In 2005 she received the Institute for European Studies of Montreal-McGill University scholarship, and in 2006-2009 she won the Quebec-Flemish community doctoral scholarship. Rouba speaks Arabic, English, French, some Hebrew and is learning Dutch.