| Abstract [eng] |
Master's thesis analyses how Lithuania, considered a small EU member state, managed to transfer its national interests to the EU's foreign policy level, affecting EU-China relations. The aim of this thesis is to find out which of the operationalized small state-specific measures of impact Lithuania applied while seeking to upload its national interest of escalating national and EU-related threats posed by China to the EU foreign policy. Implementation of this aim is analysed using the theory of Europeanization and its uploading approach. This theory serves in analysing which set of actors, factors, and circumstances ensure the right conditions for a member state to successfully upload national interests to the EU, and to perceive EU foreign policy formation as a tool for member states to achieve their goals in the global arena. In this work, Hill and Wong's theoretical model of Europeanization uploading is used, combined with the impact strategies of the small EU states systematized during the academic literature analysis. They are organized around the structure of Hill and Wong's Europeanization design model, detailing how the performance of national policy indicators should be tested in empirical research. This is an answer to the criticism often applied to the theory’s so-called unclear method of implementation of indicators and lack of substantiation of the causal relationship. Based on the described model, three hypotheses are formed to be studied in the work: 1) Achieving a leading position in the topic resulted in Lithuania's ability to influence the change in the EU's foreign policy regarding relations with China; 2) Lithuania's effective and persuasive argumentation resulted in Lithuania's ability to influence the change in the EU's foreign policy regarding relations with China; 3) Ensuring the support of partners resulted in Lithuania's ability to influence the change in the EU's foreign policy regarding relations with China. In the empirical part, analysis of the content of politicians' speeches, strategic documents, and journalistic publications of the period from 2017 to 2021 is carried out in order to substantiate the Lithuania's actions in raising the issue of Chinese threats and the changed EU-China relationship. Next, based on the theoretical model and using the case study method, the hypotheses are tested during qualitative semi-structured interviews. The results of the study reveal the confirmation of all hypotheses with different levels of impact. In the case of Lithuania, the most effective strategy of small EU member states is securing the support of like-minded states. Lithuania managed to gather a supporting coalition of members when forming and in order to adopt a the ‘Anti-coercion mechanism’. Securing of a leading position on the issue comes as the second strategy - Lithuania has been actively raising the issue of China's threats to the EU level for several years, and as a result it managed to influence the EU's foreign policy. The tactic of using persuasive and suggestive argumentation proved to be the least effective - while maintaining relations with Taiwan, Lithuania actively encouraged the EU to ensure the maintenance of its’ main values and showed leadership in this matter by its own example, but such argumentation was not innovative or significantly promoting change in EU-China relations. This research adds to the rather narrow niche of academic works using the approach of Europeanization and contributes to the academic discussion about the influence of small EU member states on the EU's foreign policy. It is important to take into account the fact that this paper only analysed the case of Lithuania's actions towards China, therefore it is useful to study the issue of China's threats entering the EU agenda and the case of changed EU-China relations in more detail, assessing the influence of other countries and external factors as well. |
