'...makes a fine contribution to the literature on the EU's global role. It focuses squarely on first principles: the EU's core policy areas, rather than the popular but often over-examined Common Foreign and Security Policy. Each chapter elucidates the external aspects of key socio-economic policies, contrasting rhetoric and reality; policy objectives and instruments. It whets the appetite for more scholarship from Ghent University's new Centre for EU Studies.' Desmond Dinan, George Mason University, USA '...provides a comprehensive survey of the European Union's external policies, especially those that are governed by the first pillar. It is a carefully crafted policy study concentrating on the probably most under-estimated and under-researched dimension of European foreign policy. Well-conceived and highly informative, Europe's Global Role provides an excellent and comprehensive survey of "civilian" policies such as development, trade, energy and enlargement policies.' Knud Erik Jørgensen, University of Aarhus, Denmark 'Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is its ability to go beyond some of the more general statements regarding EU "soft power" and to provide rigorous empirical detail of what this actually means in practice...To my knowledge, this book provides the most up-to-date and detailed documentation in print at present of EU foreign policy from a "soft power" perspective.' International Affairs