A Force for Good Governance? The European Union’s Normative Power and Standards of Appropriate Governing

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is often characterized as ultimate normative international actor. Whereas the representations of the EU as alleged 'force for good' are well researched, there is a lack of investigations into the question on how the practice of a putative 'normative power Europe' is related to approaches of good governance. Despite the role of the latter notion in the EU's external relations and system of governance in general, we know little about the potentially diverse meaning of concepts of good governance on the global level. This article analyses the significance of good governance for international governmental organizations and the EU in a comparative perspective. It concludes that the EU is, in fact, promoting a unique approach of good governance that combines economic and political aspects. At the same time, the focus on functional-technical reforms risks to undermine the operationalization of the EU's political-normative power in the practice of external governing.