European Union at the United Nations

Maximilian B. Rasch obtained his Ph.D. in Government from the University of Essex. He was attached to the European Commission Delegation and the EU Council’s Liaison Office to the United Nations in New York and is presently a Researcher at the Jean Monnet European Centre, University of Essex.

“The analysis moves easily through a subject that is in constant evolution both within and outside the normative and institutional domains, making it difficult to assess the coherency and influence of the EU in the UN. One of the book’s strong points is the thoroughness with which the thesis is argued, supported by a wealth of accurate data and sources, and the realistic approach provided by interviews with officials from the bodies studied.” (The International Spectator, 2009)"The reader is presented with a comprehensive and inquisitive account of how the EU Member States act in seeking to guard common interests in an often highly confrontational, fast-paced and politically pressurised environment. Focusing on EU representation at the UN certainly provides the author with an apt study object and a sensible delimitation, offering a practical setting in which certain issues and concerns related to the coherence of EU external relations as a whole can be brought to the fore clearly . . . . Rasch’s book is, on the whole, well-balanced, highly informative and distinctly recommendable—not to mention a thoroughly enjoyable read." (European Law Journal, 2009)“With its detailed and systematic analysis, its rich set of new quantitative data and its many figures and tables, this monograph is an important addition to the existing literature on the EU and the UN… This book will be of interest to practitioners in foreign offices, the EU and the UN as well as to scholars and students dealing with the UN and EU external relations. It points to two directions in the analysis of EU foreign policy that will hopefully be followed by other researchers, as it can help to avoid too easy (and often also too positive) generalisations in the analysis of EU foreign policy.” (Political Studies Review, 2010)

• PART ONE: The European Union’s Representation at the UN in New York1. The EU at the UN - the Coordination Process: Actors and Mechanisms2. The EU Factor in the Coordination Process3. Functioning of the CFSP in Specific UN Bodies4. External Factors Changing the Basis of EU CooperationPART TWO: Quantitative Analysis of EU Voting Behaviour in the UN General Assembly5. Voting Coherence of the EU as a Group 6. Inside Europe: Voting Coherence Within the EU and With Other European CountriesConclusions