Research Seminar Series - Sarah Delputte

Post-Doctoral Assistant at the Centre for EU Studies, Ghent University

Framing the Nexus: An Analysis of the Evolution of Development Policy in the European Project

Recent years have seen stronger political emphasis on the need for reinforcing linkages between the EU’s external policies. Studies on various policy interfaces such as the security-development, humanitarian-development and climate-development nexus in EU external policy are abound. This paper contributes to the literature by analyzing how the purpose of development policy and its relation to other EU policy areas has been (re-)framed in policy proposals over time. Drawing on constructivist framing theory, we argue that the independence of EU development itself is in part influenced by external factors but also by the prospects of the policy area itself as an area for furthering European integration. The paper contributes to theorizing the various nexuses of EU external policy and informs academic debate as to whether recent policy trends represent a fundamental departure, or rather a ‘return to form’ of EU development policy.

This paper has been co-auhored by Julian Bergmann, Niels Keijzer and Joren Verschaeve.

Thursday 24 May 2018
12:00 - 13:30 
UNU-CRIS, Bruges