Greece Crisis Brings Elasticity of Weight under Pressure
One key strategy of the EU in global politics has been what I call (in the last chapter of the book) the elasticity of weight. The idea is that its amorphous, lightly-defined, not-quite-state-like character allows the EU to present itself to the outside world in two modalities: /1/ as a quasi-state, i.e., as a singe unit (this is useful where there is a need for a unified and heavy-weight performance) or /2/ what I call "the Westphalian" modality, involving acting as a loose conglomerate of its (currently 27) member states (this works best in venues where voting is by unit, i.e., the UN General Assembly or the Security Council, etc.)
One interesting way to interpret what is going on with respect to Greece today is that the EU seems not to have been able to maximize its advantage with respect to Greece, by "sticking" too much, or perhaps for a bit "too long" to a the Westphalian model (so that there has been talk, talk, talk, but no concerted action), to the detriment of its ability to act in unison (as a single, unified quasi-state).
Of course all this can be corrected (after all, Greece is a globally small, within Europe "mid-size" state that can be bailed out with relative ease, certainly in comparison to, say, Germany), but the fact remains that the ways in which the EU is able to utilize its unique ability to switch, at will, between the two modalities is the essence of its success in the world of global geopolitics.
Meanwhile, of course China, India and quite a few other, fairly large states are putting in more and more economic weight, while the Euro-zone is slipping, slipping, slipping...
One interesting way to interpret what is going on with respect to Greece today is that the EU seems not to have been able to maximize its advantage with respect to Greece, by "sticking" too much, or perhaps for a bit "too long" to a the Westphalian model (so that there has been talk, talk, talk, but no concerted action), to the detriment of its ability to act in unison (as a single, unified quasi-state).
Of course all this can be corrected (after all, Greece is a globally small, within Europe "mid-size" state that can be bailed out with relative ease, certainly in comparison to, say, Germany), but the fact remains that the ways in which the EU is able to utilize its unique ability to switch, at will, between the two modalities is the essence of its success in the world of global geopolitics.
Meanwhile, of course China, India and quite a few other, fairly large states are putting in more and more economic weight, while the Euro-zone is slipping, slipping, slipping...
I posted this comment a few hours before I got the news that the EU finally did get together (single-actor model) and bailed out Greece. It is interesting to note that the EU is using an actor outside of itself (in this case the IMF) as the agent that will do the "dirty work." This is another strikingly consistent pattern of the EU's behaviour (see Chapter 4 for more on this
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