In this episode, Professor Wivel examines how the EU uses its political, economic, and institutional resources to influence global affairs, often without resorting to direct confrontation. In particular, he’ll focus on soft balancing governance model, and its implications.
Content
- Defining Soft Balancing vs Hard Balancing
- Soft Power vs Soft Balancing: Key Differences
- Relevance of Soft Balancing for EU Governance
- Inclusive vs Exclusive Institutional Soft Balancing
- Key Historical Milestones in EU Soft Balancing
- Lessons from Soft Balancing Failures
- Balancing National Sovereignty with Collective Decision-making
- The EU’s Institutional Structure: Too Many or Too Few?
- The Role of Plasticity in EU Governance Adaptation
- Successful and Unsuccessful Soft Balancing with Non-Members
- Causes of External Soft Balancing Failures
- Approaching Sanctions in Soft Balancing
- Official EU Resolutions on Soft Balancing
- Soft Balancing and International Relations Theories
- Challenges in Implementing Soft Balancing
- Soft Balancing in a More Centralized EU
- Regions Outside the EU and Soft Balancing Lessons
- The Role of Non-State Actors in Soft Balancing
Anders Wivel
Anders Wivel is a Professor of International Relations at University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
His most fundamental research interest is how small states overcome power asymmetry and vulnerability in international relations.
Theoretically, his work begins from a critical and constructive engagement with the Realist tradition in International Relations, most importantly Neoclassical Realism.
Anders was Chief Investigator and Deputy Director of Research in the Independent Inquiry into Denmark’s military engagements in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq commissioned by the Danish Parliament (“Krigsudredningen“).
He is a chair (with Revecca Pedi) of the section “Small States in World Politics” at the European International Studies Association (EISA), and also an active member of the Global Research Network on Peaceful Change (GRENPEC).
Selected publications
Thorhallsson, B., & Wivel, A. (2006). Small States in the European Union: What Do We Know and What Would We Like to Know? Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 19(4), 651–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557570601003502
Wivel, A. (2005). The Security Challenge of Small EU Member States: Interests, Identity and the Development of the EU as a Security Actor. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 43(2), 393–412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9886.2005.00561.x
Wivel, A. (2023). Small States and the War in Ukraine. Transatlantic Policy Quarterly, 21(4), 87–93. https://doi.org/10.58867/BCQU1598
Wivel, A. (2024). Foreign Policy Analysis and Realism. In J. Kaarbo & C. G. Thies (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis (1st ed., pp. 97–114). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198843061.013.6
Wivel, A. (2025). The EU’s Soft Balancing Governance Model: Origins, Characteristics and Prospects for the Future. International Affairs, 101(1), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae265
