Too Small to Make an Impact? - The Czech Republic’s Influence on the European Union’s Foreign Policy

Do small EU member states exert influence over the EU's foreign policy-making process ? Ten years after the Czech Republic joined the European Union, Marek Neuman attempts to answer this question by looking into whether Prague succeeded in translating its foreign policy preferences vis-à-vis Russia and the larger post-Soviet space into the EU's foreign policy making. Looking at three policy portfolios – the EU's Eastern neighborhood, energy security, and external democratization – he argues that the Czech influence varies across issue areas and time.
In studying the role of member states in EU foreign policy formation, he concludes that three master variables – quality of the national preference, ability to position oneself as a norm entrepreneur, and the character of interstate negotiations together with one's negotiation skills – determine a state's ability to make a difference in Brussels.