Söylemden Pratiğe: Avrupa Birliği’nin Normatif Güç İddiasının Güncel Krizler Karşısındaki Sınavı

Ahmet Safa Yıldırım

doi:10.36484/liberal.1833933

EN TR

From Discourse to Practice: The Test of the European Union’s Normative Power Claim in the Face of Current Crises

Abstract

This study examines the European Union’s (EU) normative power claim through a critical perspective focused on existing academic literature regarding five key crisis areas of the post-2015 period: the migration crisis, democratic backsliding in Poland and Hungary, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate policies, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Within the framework of Ian Manners’ Normative Power Europe approach, the divergence between the EU’s founding values and its practical responses to these crises is discussed in light of theoretical debates. In this context, how the normative discourse has eroded under geopolitical and internal pressures, and the strategic effects of this on the EU’s global actorness, are evaluated. The study shows that despite maintaining its normative presence in discourse, the EU experiences a serious legitimacy crisis due to practical inconsistencies and national interest reflexes. Consequently, the study points to aspects of the Normative Power Europe approach that need reconsideration in the face of 21st-century challenges.

Keywords

Normative Power Europe , Refugee Crisis , Vaccine Nationalism , Democratic Backsliding , Double Standards

Söylemden Pratiğe: Avrupa Birliği’nin Normatif Güç İddiasının Güncel Krizler Karşısındaki Sınavı

Öz

Bu çalışma Avrupa Birliği’nin (AB) normatif güç olma iddiasını göç krizi, Polonya ve Macaristan’daki demokratik gerileme, COVID-19-pandemisi, iklim politikaları ve İsrail-Filistin çatışması olmak üzere 2015 sonrası dönemin beş temel kriz alanı üzerinden mevcut akademik literatür odaklı eleştirel bir perspektifle ele almaktadır. Ian Manners’ın Normatif Güç Avrupa yaklaşımı ekseninde AB’nin kurucu değerleri ile söz konusu krizlere verdiği pratik yanıtlar arasındaki ayrışma kuramsal tartışmalar ışığında irdelenmektedir. Bu bağlamda normatif söylemin jeopolitik ve iç siyasi baskılar altında nasıl aşındığı ve bunun AB’nin küresel aktörlük kapasitesine yönelik stratejik etkileri değerlendirilmektedir. Çalışma AB’nin söylem düzeyindeki normatif varlığına rağmen pratikteki tutarsızlıklar ve ulusal çıkar refleksleri nedeniyle ciddi bir meşruiyet krizi yaşadığını göstermektedir. Sonuç olarak çalışma, Normatif Güç Avrupa yaklaşımının 21. yüzyılın meydan okumaları karşısında yeniden düşünülmesi gereken yönlerine işaret etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Normatif Güç Avrupa , Mülteci Krizi , Aşı Milliyetçiliği , Demokratik Gerileme , Çifte Standartlar

References

Akgül-Açıkmeşe, S. ve Özel, S. (2024). EU policy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict: The limitations of mitigation strategies. The International Spectator, 59(1), 59–78.
Allen, D. ve Smith, M. (1990). Western Europe’s presence in the contemporary international arena. Review of International Studies, 16(1), 19–37.
Amnesty International. (2025, 14 Temmuz). Amnesty International urges the EU to ensure that promises of humanitarian aid do not lead to inaction on EU-Israel Association Agreement. Amnesty International European Institutions Office. Erişim adresi: https://www.amnesty.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Amnesty-International-Israel-OPT-Letter-ahead-of-Foreign-Affairs-Council-15-July-2025.pdf
Balfour, R., Bomassi, L. ve Martinelli, M. (2022). Coronavirus and the widening global north-south gap. Working paper. Carnegie Europe. Erişim adresi: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2022/04/coronavirus-and-the-widening-global-north-south-gap?lang=en
Bermeo, N. (2016). On democratic backsliding. Journal of Democracy 27(1), 5-19.
Bochenek, M. G. (2023). The persistent, pernicious use of pushbacks against children and adults in search of safety. Laws, 12(3), 34.
Bolcato, M., Rodriguez, D., Feola, A., Di Mizio, G., Bonsignore, A., Ciliberti, R., Tettamanti, C., Trabucco Aurilio, M. ve Aprile, A. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic and equal access to vaccines. Vaccines, 9(6), 538.
Bollyky, T. J. ve Bown, C. P. (2020). The tragedy of vaccine nationalism: Only cooperation can end the pandemic. Foreign Affairs, 99(5), 96–108.
Borowski, P. F. (2022). Mitigating climate change and the development of green energy versus a return to fossil fuels due to the energy crisis in 2022. Energies, 15(24), 9289.
Bretherton, C. ve Vogler, J. (2006). The European Union as a global actor (2nd ed.). Londra: Routledge.

Brunsson, N. (1989). The organization of hypocrisy: Talk, decisions and actions in organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Bull, H. (1982). Civilian power Europe: A contradiction in terms? JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 21(1), 149–170.
Carr, E. H. (1939). The twenty years’ crisis, 1919-1939: An introduction to the study of international relations. New York: Harper & Row.
Çelik, F. B. (2022). The EU’s different faces in climate diplomacy: leadership, interests, and responsibilities. Journal of European Integration, 44(8), 1019–1039.
Corvino, F. (2025). The compound injustice of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). Ethics, Policy & Environment, 28(1), 26–45.
Cusumano, E. (2019). Migrant rescue as organized hypocrisy: EU maritime missions offshore Libya between humanitarianism and border control. Cooperation and Conflict, 54(1), 3–24.
da Silva Hyldmo, H., Rye, S. A. ve Vela-Almeida, D. (2024). A globally just and inclusive transition? Questioning policy representations of the European Green Deal. Global Environmental Change, 89, Article 102946.
Davies, T., Isakjee, A. ve Obradovic-Wochnik, J. (2023). Epistemic borderwork: Violent pushbacks, refugees, and the politics of knowledge at the EU border. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(1), 169–188.
Duchêne, F. (1973). The European Community and the uncertainties of interdependence. M. Kohnstamm ve W. Hager (Ed.). A nation writ large? Foreign-policy problems before the European Community içinde (s. 1-21). Londra: Macmillan.
Eckert, S. (2021). The European Green Deal and the EU’s regulatory power in times of crisis. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 59(S1), 81-91.
Fallon, K. (2020, 24 Ekim). EU border force ‘complicit’ in illegal campaign to stop refugees landing. The Guardian. Erişim adresi: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/24/eu-border-force-complicit-in-campaign-to-stop-refugees-landing
Galtung, J. (1973). The European Community: A superpower in the making. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Glouftsios, G. (2024). Performing secrecy: Hiding and obfuscation in Frontex’s pushbacks scandal. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50(4), 727–747.
Gürkan, S. ve Coman, R. (2021). The EU–Turkey deal in the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’: When intergovernmentalism cast a shadow on the EU’s normative power. Acta Politica, 56(2), 276–305.
Hernández, G. ve Wessel, R. A. (2025). Expert legal opinion on the implications for the European Union of the July 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion regarding the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. European Parliament. Erişim adresi: https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/expert-legal-opinion-on-the-implications-for-the-european-union-o
Hill, C. (1993). The capability-expectations gap, or conceptualizing Europe’s international role. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 31(3), 305–328.
Holesch, A. ve Kyriazi, A. (2022). Democratic backsliding in the European Union: The role of the Hungarian-Polish coalition. East European Politics, 38(1), 1–20.
Jones, C., Lanneau, R. ve Maccanico, Y. (2022). Access denied: Secrecy and the externalisation of EU migration control. Statewatch & Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union.
Jumana, R. N. (2024). Is the European Union (EU) a normative power?: An in-depth look at its actions and policies on refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants (Yayınlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi). City University of New York. CUNY Academic Works.
Kampmark, B. ve Kurečić, P. (2022). Vaccine nationalism: Competition, EU parochialism, and COVID-19. Journal of Global Faultlines, 9(1), 9–20.
Karamanidou, L. ve Kasparek, B. (2020). Fundamental rights, accountability and transparency in European governance of migration: The case of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex (RESPOND Working Paper Series 2020/59).
Kavanagh, M. M. ve Singh, R. (2023). Vaccine politics: Law and inequality in the pandemic response to COVID-19. Global Policy, 14(2), 229–246.
Kelemen, R. D. (2017). Europe’s other democratic deficit: National authoritarianism in Europe’s democratic union. Government and Opposition, 52(2), 211–238.
Kochenov, D. V. ve Ganty, S. (2022). EU lawlessness law: Europe’s passport apartheid from indifference to torture and killing (Jean Monnet Working Paper 2/22). The Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice, NYU School of Law. Erişim adresi: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4316584
Lavenex, S. (2018). ‘Failing forward’ towards which Europe? Organized hypocrisy in the Common European Asylum System. Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(5), 1195–1212.
Lighthouse Reports. (2021, 6 Ekim). Unmasking Europe’s shadow armies. Erişim adresi: https://www.lighthousereports.nl/investigation/unmasking-europes-shadow-armies/
Manners, I. (2002). Normative power Europe: A contradiction in terms? JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(2), 235–258.
Manners, I. (2006). Normative power Europe reconsidered: Beyond the crossroads. Journal of European Public Policy, 13(2), 182–199.
Manners, I. (2008). The normative ethics of the European Union. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 84(1), 45–60.
Manners, I. (2013). Assessing the decennial, reassessing the global: Understanding European Union normative power in global politics. Cooperation and Conflict, 48(2), 304–329.
Meijers, M. J. ve van der Veer, H. (2019). MEP responses to democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland: An analysis of agenda-setting and voting behaviour. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(4), 838–856.
Nedergaard, P. (2018). Borders and the EU legitimacy problem: The 2015–16 European refugee crisis. Policy Studies, 40(1), 80–91.
Oğurlu, E. (2022). COVID-19 pandemisinin AB dayanışmasına etkileri. Marmara Avrupa Araştırmaları Dergisi, 30(2), 167–191.
Oleart, A. ve Roch, J. (2025). The colonial imaginary of ‘Europe’ in the EU’s asymmetrical response to the Russian and Israeli aggressions: Ukraine as a member of the ‘family’ whilst ‘othering’ Palestine. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 63(6), 1685–1709.
Pacces, A. M. ve Weimer, M. (2020). From diversity to coordination: A European approach to COVID-19. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 11(2), 283–296.
Penev, D. (2017). Normative power Europe and migration: A ‘refugee crisis’ or a ‘normative crisis’? (Yayınlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi). Central European University. CEU eTD Collection.
Pérez de las Heras, B. (2024). EU green transition in times of geopolitical pressures: Accelerating or slowing the pace towards climate neutrality? European Journal of Sustainable Development, 13(2), 1-11.
Persson, A. (2017). Shaping discourse and setting examples: Normative power Europe can work in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 55(6), 1415–1431. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12578
Pisco, P. (2025, 6 Haziran). Saving the lives of migrants at sea and protecting their human rights (Report Doc. 16195). Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly. Erişim adresi: https://rm.coe.int/committee-on-migration-refugees-and-displaced-persons-report-saving-mi/1680b5419f
Pitty, R. (2022). The historic failure of the EU and nationalism in the Covid 19 pandemic. Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies, 14(2), 4–20.
Prandin, F. (2025). From green to geopolitics: the evolution of EU climate discourses and identity constructions 2015–2022. European Politics and Society, 1–13.
Rech, W. (2018). Some remarks on the EU’s action on the erosion of the rule of law in Poland and Hungary. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 26(3), 334–345.
Reuters. (2024, 18 Kasım). EU ministers reject move to freeze dialogue with Israel over Gaza war. Reuters. Erişim adresi: https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-will-not-suspend-dialogue-with-israel-polands-sikorski-says-2024-11-18
Riddervold, M. ve Bosilca, R.-L. (2017). Not so humanitarian after all? Assessing EU naval mission Sophia (ARENA Working Paper 5/2017). ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo. Erişim adresi: https://www.sv.uio.no/arena/english/research/publications/arena-working-papers/2017/wp-5-17.pdf
Ruiz Devesa, D. (2025). Genocide in Gaza: The legal controversy of the Council of the European Union’s failure to act. CIDOB Notes Internacionals, (322).
Scherz, A. (2025). How should the EU respond to democratic backsliding? A normative assessment of expulsion and suspension of voting rights from the perspective of multilateral democracy. Journal of European Public Policy, 1–26.
Shankar, P. (2023, 20 Ekim). EU staffers criticise von der Leyen’s ‘uncontrolled’ support of Israel. Al Jazeera. Erişim adresi: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/eu-staffers-criticise-von-der-leyens-uncontrolled-support-of-israel
Siddi, M. ve Prandin, F. (2023). Governing the EU’s energy crisis: The European Commission’s geopolitical turn and its pitfalls. Politics and Governance, 11(4), 286-296.
Siitonen, L. (2022). A normative power or fortress Europe? Normative policy coherence between the European Union’s development, migration, and foreign policies. Development Policy Review, 40(Suppl. 1), e12603.
Tandon, S. ve Le Merle, K. (2024). Evaluating the impact of CBAM on developing countries: The EU’s new approach to multilateralism and trade (Policy Study). Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) & National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).
Teti, A. (2025, 1 Temmuz). By sacrificing Palestine, Europe betrays itself. Al Jazeera. Erişim adresi: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/7/1/by-sacrificing-palestine-europe-betrays-itself
Tondo, L. (2021, 5 Mayıs). Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to illegal EU pushbacks. The Guardian. Erişim adresi: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/05/revealed-2000-refugee-deaths-linked-to-eu-pushbacks
Üstün, Ç. (2019). The impact of migration policies on the EU’s image as a value-driven normative actor. EuroMeSCo Paper, 46.
Vachudova, M. A. (2020). Ethnopopulism and democratic backsliding in Central Europe. East European Politics, 36(3), 318–340.
von Lucke, F. (2025). Towards orchestrating normative power in the climate crisis. Cooperation and Conflict, 60(3), 479-503.
Wang, Z. (2021). From crisis to nationalism? The conditioned effects of the COVID-19 crisis on neo-nationalism in Europe. Chinese Political Science Review, 6, 20–39.
Waters, N., Freudenthal, E. ve Williams, L. (2020, 23 Ekim). Frontex at fault: European border force complicit in ‘illegal’ pushbacks. Bellingcat. Erişim adresi: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/10/23/frontex-at-fault-european-border-force-complicit-in-illegal-pushbacks
Welfens, N. (2024). The EU’s normative justifications of refugee resettlement. Journal of Refugee Studies, 37(2), 552–568.
Wojnarowicz, M. (2025). After October 7: EU policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2023-2024 (Policy Paper). EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy.
Wolff, S. ve Ladi, S. (2020). European Union responses to the Covid-19 pandemic: Adaptability in times of permanent emergency. Journal of European Integration, 42(8), 1025–1040.
Zagema, B., Kowalzig, J., Walsh, L., Hattle, A., Roy, C. ve Dejgaard, H. P. (2023). Climate finance shadow report 2023: Assessing the delivery of the $100 billion commitment. Oxfam International. Erişim adresi: https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/climate-finance-shadow-report-2023-621500/
Zhong, Y. ve Carrapico, H. (2024). The development of Frontex: integration through supranationalism. European Politics and Society, 25(2), 233–248.

Details

Primary Language

Turkish

Subjects

European and Region Studies

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Ahmet Safa Yıldırım ^*
0000-0002-1650-345X
Türkiye

Publication Date

March 1, 2026

Submission Date

December 1, 2025

Acceptance Date

February 2, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Number: 121

DOI

https://doi.org/10.36484/liberal.1833933

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA79DY88RC

APA

Yıldırım, A. S. (2026). Söylemden Pratiğe: Avrupa Birliği’nin Normatif Güç İddiasının Güncel Krizler Karşısındaki Sınavı. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi, 121. https://doi.org/10.36484/liberal.1833933

From Discourse to Practice: The Test of the European Union’s Normative Power Claim in the Face of Current Crises

Abstract

Keywords

Söylemden Pratiğe: Avrupa Birliği’nin Normatif Güç İddiasının Güncel Krizler Karşısındaki Sınavı

Öz

Anahtar Kelimeler

References

Details

Primary Language

Subjects

Journal Section

Authors

Publication Date

Submission Date

Acceptance Date

Published in Issue

DOI

IZ

Cite