This accessible new textbook situates the European Union in a dramatically changed world order. Resisting a more traditional and abstract introduction to the institutions, structures and policy making processes of the EU, this innovative new text cuts through the jargon to demonstrate how hard the EU must work to retain its international influence. Taking into account the latest empirical developments, including the spread of war and violence in the East with Ukraine and the ongoing turbulent politics of North Africa and the Middle East, Richard Youngs - an expert in the field - introduces us to how the EU has been forced to act differently. The book is unique in offering an outside-in conceptual framework that inverts the way that the EU external action is studied and understood. It unpacks the different international challenges the EU has faced in recent years, including the weakening of global order, the need for more protective security, geo-economic competition, climate change and conflicts to its east and south. In each case the book examines how the EU has responded and how its core international identity has changed as a result, assessing whether the Union still retains strong global influence.
This book is the ideal companion for students taking modules on the European Union's foreign policy, global politics, and for students of European Union Politics more broadly at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Richard Youngs is Professor of International Relations at the University of Warwick, UK, and Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, Belgium.

Chapter 1 Introduction
I: Background
Chapter 2 The evolution and institutions of EU external action
Chapter 3 An outside-in framework for EU external action
II: Themes
Chapter 4 Navigating the new international order
Chapter 5 The EU and the rise of protective security
Chapter 6 Geo-economic Europe
Chapter 7 Enlargement and its limits
Chapter 8 Climate change and energy security
Chapter 9 Democracy and human rights
III: Regional Challenges
Chapter 10 Geopolitical shifts in the Middle East and North Africa
Chapter 11 War in Ukraine and Russian challenges in Eastern Europe
Chapter 12 Recasting the EU's international influence