European Union’s Actorness Amid the Weakening Liberal International Order in the Fields of Trade, Digital Sovereignty and Conflict Resolution
Journal: Athena – Critical Inquiries in Law Philosophy and Globalization
Year: 2025

This article analyses the implications for the EU’s global actorness stemming from the weakening Liberal International Order (LIO). It elaborates on the autonomous actions that the EU pursues as a response to this particular structural change. The analysis centres on four actorness criteria (Wunderlich 2011), i.e. EU’s internal self-understanding and external recognition (both forming the EU’s institutional identity), the EU’s international presence and the EU’s capability (interest, instruments