Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Published in:
Introducing the European Union’s Strategic Partnerships: Global Diplomacy in a Contested World Read chapter Read first chapter

2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. Soft Power in the European Union’s Strategic Partnership Diplomacy: The Erasmus Plus Programme

Authors : Laura C. Ferreira-Pereira, João Mourato Pinto

Published in: The European Union's Strategic Partnerships

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

This chapter attempts to fill part of a gap in the literature by exploring the EU’s soft power in connection to the area of higher education and more specifically to the communities of alumni built around the Erasmus+ Programme. Its focus is on a ‘bottom up’ rather than the ‘top down’ view of the Strategic Partnerships (SP); and its underlying argument is about the persistence and even strengthening of the educational links and networks set against the stagnation and erosion of the SPs in the broader sense. For this reason, the chapter examines the life beyond summitry generated by the Erasmus+ Programme in the cases of Brazil and Russia, which are illustrative because since the outset their SPs with the EU included support for people-to-people connections based on academic exchanges with the goal of increasing mutual trust and understanding. This study’s conclusion points out the growing role of higher education in sustaining the EU’s relations with its strategic partners, especially those relations that have ended up ‘suspended’ and even ‘frozen’ at the highest political level as a result of a combination of exogenous and endogenous factors.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
previous chapter Institutional Perspectives on the EU’s Strategic Partnerships: Where Is the Focus and Authority?
next chapter The European Union and the United States: Competition, Convergence and Crisis in a Strategic Relationship
Footnotes
1
Personal email sent by EEAS/DG EAC to João Pinto, 22/04/2016.
 
2
For example, in the two-volumes of the SAGE Handbook of European Foreign Policy (2015), there is no single chapter devoted to this educational dimension of European foreign policy. The same applies to the book The Foreign Policy of the European Union by Stephan Keukelaire and Tom Delreux (2014).
 
3
Data retrieved from UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Table “Education: Outbound Internationally Mobile Students by Host Region”.
 
4
This includes the special administrative regions of Macao and Hong Kong, nearly 930,000 without them.
 
5
The term “Erasmus Generation” does not have a clear definition, but it is widely used by the educational sectors of the European Union to describe a loose group of people, mostly alumni of the programme, who share a common and rather progressive vision for the European project.
 
6
Both numbers are a sum of the participants of the Erasmus+ Programme and its predecessor programmes.
 
7
Interview with Viviane Reding, Brussels, 2019.
 
8
Interview with DG EAC official in Brussels, 05/11/2019.
 
9
The other countries are the following: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Uruguay and the special Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao.
 
10
Interview with DG EAC official, Brussels, 05/11/2019.
 
11
Interview with EEAS official, Brussels, 28/10/2019.
 
12
Here we refer to Erasmus+, Jean Monnet, Schuman-Fulbright, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Union Visitors Programme, Global Cultural Leadership Programme, EU-China interpreters programme, EU Voluntary Service, and EU Solidarity Corps.
 
13
Interview with EEAS official, Brussels, 28/10/2019.
 
14
Interview with EEAS official, Brussels, 28/10/2019.
 
15
The Bologna Policy Forum is an event gathering the EU, UNESCO, ministerial representatives, higher education experts and other stakeholders to discuss the development of the higher education sector.
 
16
Retrieved from the website of the Sectoral Dialogues European Union Brazil (2020) “Background”.
 
17
Interview with Viviane Reding, Brussels, 2019.
 
Literature
Amirbek, A., & Ydyrys, K. (2014). Education as a Soft Power Instrument of Foreign Policy. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 143, 501–503.
Atkinson, C. (2010). Does Soft Power Matter? A Comparative Analysis of Student Exchange Programs 1980–2006. Foreign Policy Analysis, 6, 1–22.CrossRef
Bislev, A. (2017). Student-to-Student Diplomacy: Chinese International Students as a Soft-Power Tool. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 46(2), 81–109.CrossRef
Blanco, L. F. (2016). The Functions of ‘Strategic Partnership’ in European Union Foreign Policy Discourse. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 29(1), 1–19.CrossRef
Council of the European Union. (2005, May 10). 15th EU-Russia Summit. Road Map for The Common Economic Space—Building Blocks For Sustained Economic Growth Annex 1. Moscow.
Council of the European Union. (2007, July 4). EU-Brazil Summit Joint Statement. Lisbon.
Council of the European Union. (2016, March 14). Outcome of the Council Meeting. Brussels.
Council of the European Union. (2020, June 5). Youth in External Action. Brussels.
EU-LAC Foundation. (2020). Matrix of Objectives, Strategies and Initiatives for the Construction of the EU-LAC Common Area of Higher Education. EU-LAC Newsletter 05/2020.
European Commission. (2005). EU-Russia: The Four “Common Spaces”. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2007a). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council—Towards an EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2007b). Brazil Country Strategy Paper 2007–2013. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2008). Brazil-European Union Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2011). Brazil-European Union Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2014). The Erasmus Impact Study: Effects of Mobility on the Skills and Employability of Students and the Internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
European Commission. (2017). Annual Action Programme 2017 (Phase 1) for the Partnership Instrument for Cooperation with Third Countries. Annex 14. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2019). Erasmus+ Higher Education Impact Study. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
European Commission. (2020a). Erasmus+ for Higher Education in Brazil. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2020b). Erasmus+ for Higher Education in Russia. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI). (2015a). Analysis of the Perception of the EU and EU’s Policies Abroad: Executive Summary. Brussels: FPI.
European Commission Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI). (2015b). Analysis of the Perception of the EU and EU’s Policies Abroad: Final Report Annexes. Brussels: FPI.
European External Action Service. (2016a, March 17). Mogherini Discusses EU Global Strategy Priorities with Erasmus Alumni. Brussels.
European External Action Service. (2016b). Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe: A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy. Brussels: European Commission.
European Parliament. (2015). Russia Is No Longer a Strategic Partner of the EU, say MEPs. Brussels: European Parliament.
Ferreira-Pereira, L. C. (2012). The European Union as a ‘Model Power’: Spreading Peace, Democracy and Human Rights in the Wider World. In F. Bindi & I. Angelescu (Eds.), The European Union Foreign Policy: Assessing Europe’s Role in the World (pp. 293–305). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Gabriel, M. (2020). Academic Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean. EU-LAC Newsletter 05/2020.
Hong, N. Y. (2014). EU-China Education Diplomacy: An Effective Soft Power Strategy? European Foreign Affairs Review, 19, 155–172.
Lima, A. F., Jr. (2007). The Role of International Educational Exchanges in Public Diplomacy. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 3(3), 234–251.CrossRef
Manners, I. (2002). Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms? Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(2), 235–258.CrossRef
Mogherini, F. (2019, October 9). Legacy Speech at the conference “Walking the Strategic Talk: A Progressive EU Foreign Policy Agenda for the Future”. Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), Brussels.
Moravcsik, A. (2017, April 13). Europe Is Still a Superpower and It’s Going to Remain One for Decades to Come. Foreign Affairs.
Nye, J. (2004). Soft Power and Higher Education. Forum for the Future of Higher Education.
Official Journal of the European Union. (2014). Regulation (EU) No 234/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 Establishing a Partnership Instrument for Cooperation with Third Countries. Brussels: European Union.
Perilli, A. (2017). Erasmus Student or EU Ambassador? People-to-People Contact in the European Neighbourhood Policy: The Cases of Georgia, Ukraine and Tunisia. Bruges Political Research Papers, 59.
Polglase, G. (2013). Higher Education as Soft power in the Eastern Partnership: The Case of Belarus. Eastern Journal of European Studies, 4(2), 111–121.
Saraiva, M. G. (2017). The Brazil-European Union Strategic Partnership, from Lula to Dilma Rousseff: A Shift of Focus. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 60(1), e009.CrossRef
Valenza, D., & Bossuyt, F. (2019). A Two-Way Challenge: Enhancing EU Cultural Cooperation with Russia. CEPS Policy Brief 2019/02.
Wojciuk, A., Michałek, M., & Stormowska, M. (2015). Education as a Source and Tool of Soft Power in International Relations. European Political Science, 14, 298–317.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Soft Power in the European Union’s Strategic Partnership Diplomacy: The Erasmus Plus Programme
Authors
Laura C. Ferreira-Pereira
João Mourato Pinto
Copyright Year
2021
Book
The European Union's Strategic Partnerships

Print ISBN: 978-3-030-66060-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-66061-1

Copyright Year: 2021

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66061-1_4