Chapter 1 Unintended Consequences of EU External Action

Abstract

"There is a gap in IR and EU scholarship concerning unintended
consequences in an international context, leaving this important
phenomenon understudied. To fill this gap, a conceptualisation of
unintended consequences is offered, and a set of common
research questions are presented, highlighting the nature (what),
the causes (why) and the modes of management (how) of unintended
consequences of EU external action. The Special Issue
contributes to the study of the EU as an international actor by
broadening the notion of the EU's impact abroad to include the
unintended consequences of EU (in)actions and by shedding new
light on the conceptual paradigms that explain EU external action."