Unraveling EU’s Strategic Autonomy - Analysing the EU’s Path to Independence amidst Global Interconnections

Abstract: This thesis investigates the EU’s strategic autonomy which refers to the EU’s strive for increased independence without having to rely on other countries in important policy areas. EU strategic autonomy was introduced in 2013 and has become a higher priority due to recent geopolitical changes. The research question is how the EU balances strategic autonomy with their commitments to multilateralism and global governance where EU policy papers, white papers and official reports will be used. Consequently, current literature summarising global trends will be used to create an analysis combining other circumstances relevant to the current situation. The material will be analysed through qualitative content analysis combined with conceptual combinations of theories. The theoretical frameworks are International Political Economy, describing the relationship between politics and the economy, International Relations Theory, Globalisation theory, Social Identity Theory and Cooperative Sovereignty. The way that Strategic Autonomy works in practice will be analysed through three key policy areas being security & defence, economy & trade and digital & technology. The balance between independence and multilateralism will be weighed within the different policy areas compared with the theoretical frameworks to investigate the meaning of the EU’s strategy and its relation to the world economy.