“An excellent collection of essays that illustrate how EU member states’ wish to implement normatively inspired policies is confronted with the geopolitical realities of today’s world. The authors succeed in presenting an even-handed account of the way in which the tensions between norms and geopolitics play out, as well as of the responses given by EU policy makers.”
—Wil Hout, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, the Netherlands

The European Union (EU), while collectively constituting the world’s largest development provider, has come under internal and external pressures over the past decade. This book argues that the EU’s development policies are situated between the bloc’s normative ideals and the global geopolitical realities in which it is embedded. In order to investigate these tensions, it asks how far the 'normative power' Europe concept exists in EU development policies, and how far it is recognizable in the EU’s focus on human rights, the rule of law, and sustainability. In light of the tension in EU development policies between those ideals and the necessity to project neoliberal and geopolitical interests, how do receiving countries perceive the EU’s development efforts? This volume, complete with contributions from academics from a wide range of disciplines based all around the globe, provides answers to these essential questions.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Energy, Climate Change and EU Development Policy.-Chapter 3: Theorizing the EU’s International Promotion of LGBTI Rights Policies in the Global South.- Chapter 4: The Biodiversity for Life (B4L) Flagship Initiative: The EU, Africa, and Biodiversity Conservation.- Chapter 5: European Involvement in China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Geopolitical Pragmatism or Normative Engagement?.- Chapter 6: Sino-Indian Relations and EU Development Policies in Post-Conflict Nepal.- Chapter 7: New Directions in European Union-Africa Development Initiatives.- Chapter 8: The EU, CARIFORUM, and CELAC: A New Development Alliance?.- Chapter 9: The Peru-EU Free Trade Agreement: An Obstacle or an Opportunity for Peru’s Further Sustainable Development?.- Chapter 10: Spain’s Role in the EU’s Development Cooperation Agreement with Cuba Joaquin Roy.- Chapter 11: Conclusion.