The concept of awkward powers in foreign relations : comparative analysis of Canada and the European Union

Pikalo, Jernej (author), Durnik, Mitja (author)

This paper addresses a specific phenomenon concerning power concepts in Canadian and EU foreign policies. As is widely known, the liberal-democratic platform has dominated global relations after the end of the Cold War. Implemented power approaches are studied from theoretical perspectives of liberalism/constructivism standpoints and their realist critique. Canada has been presented mostly as a middle power in international relations trying to find its specific role as a mediator and balancer among superpowers. On the other hand, the EU is classified predominantly as a normative power with tendencies to act as a great power from some point of view. In the paper, we analyse both entities through the recent concept of ‘awkward power’, whereby states have a so-called “dubious character”, acting in-between the potential of great and middle powers.

• Language: English
• Keywords: power, awkward power, realism, liberalism/constructivism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences; FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 93-121
• Numbering: Vol. 60, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-147322
• UDC: 327
• ISSN on article: 0032-3241
• DOI: 10.20901/pm.60.2.05
• COBISS.SI-ID: 157366019
• Publication date in RUL: 30.06.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Politička misao
• Shortened title: Polit. misao
• Publisher: Fakultet političkih znanosti u Zagrebu
• ISSN: 0032-3241
• COBISS.SI-ID: 3400962

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: mednarodni odnosi, moč (družbene vede), velesile, Evropska unija, Kanada