What is FORNET?

FORNET - a European Foreign Policy Research Network - represents the first formal attempt to structure and co-ordinate a network of researchers across Europe focusing on foreign policy governance. Since 2002, FORNET has been a forum for informed discussion and scholarly debate on all aspects of European foreign policy among academics and practitioners. It aims to modernise, widen and deepen research in this vital area of EU policy, building on a foundation of informal cooperation between its core members, who have been investigating and writing about European foreign policy for over twenty years.

FORNET was funded by the European Commission for three years, from 2002 to 2005. Although Commission funding has ended, several of FORNET’s activities continue within the framework of the European Commission funded EU-CONSENT research network (www.eu-consent.net). However, the FORNET website will continue to host new research activities as well as FORNET’s acquis academique.

FORNET has a bi-monthly on-line newsletter with articles written by leading specialists in the field of European Foreign Policy, called CFSP FORUM. It is edited at the LSE by Dr Karen E. Smith. To read the most recent edition and to reference the catalogue of previous editions follow the link CFSP FORUM above.

FORNET also publishes a series of working papers.

The FORNET virtual study units will be available shortly, and will be updated regularly.

Furthermore, there is a catalogue available here of useful information on European foreign policy, including annual reports, a database of relevant documentation and information on the most recent publications. Click on CFSP Watch for more details.

Until 2005, the research agenda of FORNET is divided into five core areas, each covered by a dedicated working group:

• The Evolution of ESDP
• CFSP and Enlargement
• Theories and Approaches on CFSP
• The Evolution and Democratic Accountability of CFSP Institutions
• CFSP in a Regional Perspective: Dialogue, Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution

Working group seminars were held from 2002 to 2005 on the respective topics. Details of the seminars and working papers presented are available on this site by following the Working Groups link above.

FORNET also organised three annual Plenary meetings in Brussels, where FORNET members, other researchers and practitioners discussed a variety of academic and policy-related issues. At our third annual meeting in April 2005 for example, around 100 delegates gathered for two days to discuss Accountability and the Democratic Deficit, the Future of the ESDP, Russia and the New Neighbourhood Policy and the EU and Turkey. There was also a panel dedicated to presenting the work of young academics, and keynote remarks by Antonio Missiroli from the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris. Click here for information and papers from the plenary sessions.

FORNET was guided by a steering group consisting of Professor Esther Barbé from Barcelona, Professor Christian Franck from Brussels, Professor Wolfgang Wessels from Cologne and Professor Christopher Hill from the London School of Economics (now at the University of Cambridge) as Coordinator. It was run from the LSE. To find out more about FORNET, e-mail cjh68@cam.ac.uk or k.e.smith@lse.ac.uk.

Principal Partners:

London School of Economics:
European Foreign Policy Unit

University of Cologne: (German) (English)

Autonomous University of Barcelona
Observatory of European Foreign Policy

Trans European Policies Study Association

European Commission: DG RESEARCH

Partners:

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