Integrating nascent organisations. On the settlement of the European External Action Service

Abstract

This study shows how the EU’s new Common Foreign and Security policy (CFSP) administration – the European External Action Service (EEAS) – experienced early organisational settlement. We find that the EEAS acts relatively independently from member-state governments, suggesting administrative autonomy. It is also relatively integrated into the Commission structure, suggesting inter-institutional integration of sub-units in the two institutions. Important lessons can be learned. For organisation theory: Firstly, nascent organisations are likely to experience some degree of ‘settlement’ after birth by establishing ties towards organisations from which they originate. Secondly, settlement is influenced by pre-existing organisational capacity and recent organisational history. For the CFSP literature: Firstly, the CFSP has indeed developed beyond intergovernmental cooperation; we might be witnessing a ‘normalisation’ or ‘communitarisation’ of CFSP policy- processes. Secondly, cooperation and further institutionalisation of relations between the EEAS and the Commission may be key factors in explaining integration within the CFSP. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of European Integration, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07036337.2016.1241246.