EUPERFORM

The EUPERFORM network aims (1) to generate systematic knowledge about the performance (i.e. impact on decision-making) of the EU in multilateral institutions and, on this basis, (2) to enhance the foundation for further developing the related EU policy framework. To this end, the project gathers systematic knowledge about the performance of the EU in a cross-section of global institutions and investigates important explanatory factors. It will gather both academically innovative and politically relevant insights into Europe’s changing role in the world, specifically focusing on the EU’s external relations and its role in fostering multilateralism and multilateral institutions. The overall network's approach is comparative, and first of all, focuses on developing a common conceptual framework specifying indicators for assessing the EU’s performance in multilateral institutions alongside the explanatory factors to be investigated. These are then applied, through various case studies, which will analyse the role of the EU in global multilateral institutions from different policy fields on the basis of the common conceptual framework. Network participants will collect comparable data, and aim to share and analyse these common data sets in their scientific research. Finally, the case study data will form the basis of a systematic comparative assessment in order to distil general knowledge about the EU’s performance in multilateral institutions and the relative importance of varying explanatory factors.

The EUPERFORM network aims (1) to generate systematic knowledge about the performance (i.e. impact on decision-making) of the EU in multilateral institutions and, on this basis, (2) to enhance the foundation for further developing the related EU policy framework. To this end, the project gathers systematic knowledge about the performance of the EU in a cross-section of global institutions and investigates important explanatory factors. It will gather both academically innovative and politically relevant insights into Europe’s changing role in the world, specifically focusing on the EU’s external relations and its role in fostering multilateralism and multilateral institutions. The overall network's approach is comparative, and first of all, focuses on developing a common conceptual framework specifying indicators for assessing the EU’s performance in multilateral institutions alongside the explanatory factors to be investigated. These are then applied, through various case studies, which will analyse the role of the EU in global multilateral institutions from different policy fields on the basis of the common conceptual framework. Network participants will collect comparable data, and aim to share and analyse these common data sets in their scientific research. Finally, the case study data will form the basis of a systematic comparative assessment in order to distil general knowledge about the EU’s performance in multilateral institutions and the relative importance of varying explanatory factors.

On the basis of the conceptual framework, the project will proceed with the preparation of nine case studies on the role of the EU as an international actor in different multilateral institutions and a related legal analysis. The following nine institutions, which can be expected to score differently as regards EU performance, have been selected (policy field in brackets):

  1. the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT – security);
  2. the international regime on climate change (environment);
  3. the World Trade Organization (WTO – trade/economics);
  4. the International Criminal Court (ICC – human rights);
  5. the World Health Organization (WHO – health);
  6. the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO – agriculture);
  7. the global fisheries regime (fisheries/living resources);
  8. the World Bank (WB – economics/finance/development); and
  9. the International Telecommunication Union (ITU – telecoms/ICT)

The selection focuses on global institutions with worldwide membership open to all states in order to limit variation of certain factors (such as the number of parties involved) to a manageable extent.

More information on EUPERFORM's partners
Activities in the framework of EUPERFORM


[Back to Research]