"During the 1970s, the EU member states made fledgling attempts to coordinate their foreign policies in the form of intergovernmental structures called European Political Cooperation. These initial efforts towards integrating national foreign policies were of limited success, as was evident from the failure to respond effectively to the infamous hostage situation in Tehran, or the lacklustre European response to the USSR invasion of Afghanistan over Christmas 1979. This dynamic has continued in the last decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The first ever European Security Strategy of 2003 was drawn up after deep European disagreement over the Iraq war. The big bang-enlargement of May 2004 prompted the need for a novel policy that draws together EU and member state action to effectively deal with the EUs new neighbours: the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).This book offers a thorough legal and policy examination of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as latest grand experiment in achieving coherent external relations for the Union. The book draws on legal and political scholarship to attain a definition of coherence in EU external relations. It argues that traditional definitions such as vertical or horizontal coherence are insufficient and sets out a new definition in order to more accurately capture the reality of EU external relations. The book goes on to look in depth at the ENP, arguing that the innovative nature of the ENP in regard to coherence lies beyond the narrowly defined legal sphere, but stems mostly from its hybrid composition of hard legal, soft legal and non-legal policy instruments"-- Provided by publisher.

"The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is a recent example of an external EU policy drawn up explicitly with the objective of achieving coherence in the external policies of the EU and its Member States. Positioning the ENP in the legal-historical context of political union, this book explains why coherence has become a substantive issue in EU external relations, and why law is integral to attaining the ever-enigmatic single voice of the European Union. The text examines the role of EU external relations law in attaining a coherent neighbourhood policy and goes on to undertake an in depth analysis of the ENP, arguing that the innovative nature of the ENP in regard to coherence lies beyond the narrowly defined legal sphere, and stems primarily from its hybrid composition of hard legal, soft legal and non-legal policy instruments. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach by integrating elements of law, history and political science, EU External Relations Law and the European Neighbourhood Policy is unique in its approach to the subject. This book will be of particular interest to academics and students of EU Law, Political Science, History and International Relations as well as to practitioners engaged in the process of drafting coherent external policy"-- Provided by publisher.