AbstractsPolitical Science

Abstract The aim of this research project is to explain why changes to the European institutions were pursued with the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The institution of concern is that which encapsulates the European Union’s foreign policy and external relations. This aim is pursued through a deductive application of two of the New Institutionalisms: Historical Institutionalism and Discursive Institutionalism. Historical Institutionalism, with its emphasis on path dependence and decisive historical events, establishes a link between the decision of expanding the European Union in 2004 and the institutional changes inherent in the previously mentioned Treaty in regards to the area of foreign policy. This link is consequently unfolded and explained by the application of Discursive Institutionalism. The focus of the analysis is on the discourses present within the European Council. Thus Discursive Institutionalism explains how the ideas inherent in discourse, conveyed through agency, has acted as the causal mechanism linking the decision of enlargement with the need to pursue institutional change. Consequently we conclude that the discourses show how enlargement of the Union has instigated the push for institutional changes to the European Union foreign policy institution.