European normative policy and Iranian nuclear proliferation

Abstract

This thesis investigates the EU non-proliferation policy towards Iran that has led to the creation of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in light of the theory of Normative Power Europe (NPE). NPE theory has traditionally focused mainly on the ‘community aspects’ of EU foreign policy, such as trade, aid and enlargement. As NPE theorists are divided on the question if EU security policy can be normative, the emerging EU actorness in this field has remained underexposed. Building on the conceptual NPE framework formulated by Nathalie Tocci, this thesis further explores the usefulness of a NPE perspective for the analysis of security policy, thereby testing the validity of NPE as a characterisation of EU foreign policy. This is done by analysing the role of norm transference in EU policy goals and means during the nuclear negotiations with Iran, and by relating this policy to the conditional factors that constitute its relevant historical context. The research suggests that the considerations underlying EU non-proliferation policy were for a large part determined by norm transference. However, when the threat of the Iranian nuclear program was at its peak between 2010 and 2013, the EU abandoned the strategy of ‘effective multilateralism’ that determined its non-proliferation policy during the rest of the negotiations. It is therefore concluded that NPE is in this case not a valid characterisation for EU policy. Nonetheless, the NPE-perspective on security policy is highly useful because it makes the EU’s non-normative course in the negotiations stand out. This policy deviation has potentially far-reaching implications for the future of EU security policy, as the EUGS portrays it as an exemplary case for dealing with future security threats.