The Shaping Power of Eu’s Constitutionalism and Institutionalism in International Relations

The aim of this paper is to examine whether the institutional and the constitutional development of the EU represents a milestone that can dictate a shift in the interactions of the international system. The instruments the EU holds form a heterogeneous system. By incorporating and placing them into a broader context one can determine: first, if the Union represents indeed a power that is functional in exercising influence within the international structure. The argument is that even if the Union is not a power in the traditional sense, it still possesses elements that make it able to exercise influence. This idea relies on the hypothesis that the Union’s ability to influence depends on its performance as a project, generating an attractive civilizational model. Second, one can conclude if the legal being of the EU does concretely shape the dynamics of international relations. The approach is to distance the European construction from the traditional paradigm of international relations and to prove its shaping power, by providing an introspective into its legal and constitutional existence, in the light of an emerging global order. In this academic endeavour, the central research methodology used is the secondary analysis of data.