Emergence of a common security and foreign policy has been one of the most contentious issues accompanying the integration of the European Union. With extensive empirical evidence drawn from interviews, case studies, official documents and secondary sources, Michael Smith examines the specific ways foreign policy cooperation has been institutionalized in the EU. This analysis will appeal to scholars and researchers in international relations, law, foreign policy and European studies.

List of tables; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction: foreign and security policy in the European Union; Part I. Institutions and Foreign Policy Cooperation: The Theoretical and Empirical Terrain: 1. The institutionalization of cooperation: an analytical framework; 2. Institutions and European foreign policy cooperation: the empirical link; Part II. The Institutionalization of Cooperation: 3. Origins: intergovernmentalism and European political pooperation; 4. Information-sharing and the transgovernmental EPC network; 5. Norms, rules and laws in European foreign policy; 6. Organizations and European foreign policy; 7. Toward governance: the Common Foreign and Security Policy; Part III. Residual Institutional Issues: 8. Unfinished business: coherence and the EU's global ambitions; Conclusion: beyond the CFSP: institutions, defense and the European identity; References; Index.