IS EU AN INTERNATIONAL ACTOR OR PLAYER IN INTERNATIONAL SPHERE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Received: 10 June 2017 Final Accepted: 12 July 2017 Published: August 2017 There has been an increase in research and academic study of EU as an international actor in the late 20 th century and the opening of 21th century. The process through which EU became an actor or player in international relations is widely been recognized with the institutionalization of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), however, and more importantly its legitimacy, credibility and achievement has been continuing to be debating among international relations scholars, international comparative political analyst, international economist and legal thinkers and expert analyst / observer of EU integrations since its inception in 1957. This paper used qualitative research approach, historical context and theoretical perspective about the debate of EU character in world politics. For the purposed of this research EU can be considered as an international actor depending on the policy area of EU one focused on. With regard to EU‟s CFSP strategies / objectives like the funding of non EU countries, development and humanitarian assistance, rule of law through regional cooperation, democracy through free and fair election, precise governance, peace keeping all these make EU to be in a vital position to have the ability and capacity to influence other actor‟s behaviors in international world of politics which make EU to have greater effect on the region like Middle East, Iraq war (2003) IsraelPalestinian conflict, and more importantly the crisis in former Balkan (Yugoslavia, Kosovo and Bosnia) in 1990s.The finding of this research show that EU‟s CFSP achievement can be comprehend there has been a different understanding in our traditional perception of power which change our thought of realist military power (hard one) with the civilian-military capability (soft one) which the EU have make use of.

There has been an increase in research and academic study of EU as an international actor in the late 20 th century and the opening of 21th century. The process through which EU became an actor or player in international relations is widely been recognized with the institutionalization of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), however, and more importantly its legitimacy, credibility and achievement has been continuing to be debating among international relations scholars, international comparative political analyst, international economist and legal thinkers and expert analyst / observer of EU integrations since its inception in 1957. This paper used qualitative research approach, historical context and theoretical perspective about the debate of EU character in world politics. For the purposed of this research EU can be considered as an international actor depending on the policy area of EU one focused on. With regard to EU"s CFSP strategies / objectives like the funding of non EU countries, development and humanitarian assistance, rule of law through regional cooperation, democracy through free and fair election, precise governance, peace keeping all these make EU to be in a vital position to have the ability and capacity to influence other actor"s behaviors in international world of politics which make EU to have greater effect on the region like Middle East, Iraq war (2003) Israel-Palestinian conflict, and more importantly the crisis in former Balkan (Yugoslavia, Kosovo and Bosnia) in 1990s.The finding of this research show that EU"s CFSP achievement can be comprehend there has been a different understanding in our traditional perception of power which change our thought of realist military power (hard one) with the civilian-military capability (soft one) which the EU have make use of.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Methodology:-
In an attempt to answer this question whether European Union is an actor or player in the international sphere of international relations this paper would use historical context, quantitative approach and in addition more importantly it would have employed theoretical perspective about the debate of EU character at the global level to support the study. In other to examine the EU position and status at the global level various issues and aspect related to the circumstances must be comprehensively analyzed and examined. Sources used included, articles, online-859 articles, eBooks, online essay are also used in other to support the study respectively.

Introduction:-
In the theoretical concept and framework of practices of International relations after the end era of the cold war brought a new ideology of security and classical realist approach such as power of state sovereignty. Sperling 1995, argue that after the end of the cold war era which brought new ideology of how state cannot act efficiently as unitary actor but cooperating and negotiating to link their defense mechanism with other states. Global security here is defining in the context that security of one country is closely link to the other states. (Haftendorn, 1991). Therefore, collaboration base on effective relations is matter and is what would guarantee the state security.
The end of 20th century and the opening of 21th century, with emergence of liberal institutionalism we have witness tremendous increased in the creation and establishment of institutions as nation state continued to share more power with the non-state actor which is the institution.
Nation-state are connected in a network of transnational governance that include co-operations, banks, intergovernmental, supra-national and non-governmental organization. European Union, as understood is a union with many institutions which include European Council, European Parliament, Council of Minister, European Commission, Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, Economic and Social Committee, Committee of the Regions, European Investment Bank, Agencies and European Central Bank which operates at both intergovernmental level (Inter-governmentalism) and supra-national (Supranationalism).
With the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 that come into force in 1993 the treaty that lead to the formation of the second pillar of EU which was the upgrade version of the former European Political Cooperation which transform in 1970s, 1980s with the coming of Single European Act in 1986 EPC become obsolete form of negotiation and cooperation between member state in foreign relation matters As illustrate with this development EU is facing considerable international challenges, by political integration, social economic issues and most importantly foreign security matters proven to be difficult to achieved base on underline goal and objective set to achieved and this are important area or sector and the member are reluctant to surrender their sovereignty and to speak collectively and effectively with single voice to EU level for instances the Georgia crisis, the Balkans, the conflict in Gaza, or Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis, Europe ought to benefit from greater cooperation and a single unified voice to counter the third adversary policies of divide et imperia.

The Emergence EU'S Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP):-
In the political, diplomatic and security aspect, member states of the European Community sustain considerable autonomy. With the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty, in 1993 the former European Economic Community has been converted into the European Union signaling further actions in the direction of an even closer union. The Maastricht Treaty has provided the Union with pillars of policy cooperation: European Union, Justice and Ho me Affairs and Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). (Treaty on European Union, 1993) With the Maastricht Treaty, the EU has all started to strategies into effect a huge number of common rules under the broad remit of human security, starting from immigration, counter-terrorism and police cooperation, which changed into the EU"s scope decades ago. It has additionally expressed its preference to act as a rational actor at global level and raised its foreign and security objectives with framing of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as a 2nd pillar of cooperation within the Maastricht Treaty.
The action taken towards framing a CFSP is based on contemplation of the post-cold world war. During the cold war era, the European was beneath the protection umbrella of the United State, and security and military issues very much come under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
With the decline in the salience of nuclear deterrence and the growing significance of economic power, there is growing preferences on the part of some members of European Union to become an effective influential global actor. External interest in the definition of needs and expectations for the European to play a more vital energetic role in the international system might also be one of major driving factors behind the creation of CFSP.
In summarizing the extensive processes to pursue these goals, the ESS additionally captures a number of fundamental issues. The report stress that the crisis risk and difficulties it described cannot be deal by means of military hard power alone, however it can only be address through a combination of political, economic and as well as also the military approach.
War risk can be prevented under the foundation of European Union"s global security method and strategy. The EU consequently in the long run, seeks to control the level of the crisis as well as finding out the root causes of conflict, parties involves their need and to brought them to table for talk and cooperation to reduce the ramification of war and to protect the civilian by using precise governance through proper free and fair election and solving the conflict through democratic non-violent approach which may enhance human rights, and by way of helping to ensure economic improvement via such method as alternate and foreign assistance.
Analyst noted that those approaches play by the European Union are most important strengths which classified EU a great methodology of the civilian, "soft power" approach tool.

The EU Engagement in the Balkans: -
For duration of most of its history, the Balkans region of the Europe has been regarded for conflicts, wars, unrest, hash dictatorship, and bad development tracks. There is one key cause of this: The Balkans wish for EU integration, but what the Balkans countries do to fulfil their own obligations in coming towards the EU is similarly important to what the EU policies towards the region. As extensively recognized, a global actor, the European Union has performed a vital position in defining the future route for the Balkans.
The European Union policies towards the Balkans cover various issues, although the key ones fall beneath the EU"s Common Foreign and Security (CFSP) and EU"s Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). However, it is of vital to know how effective and successful have these EU"s policies are towards the Balkans been, especially since the early 1990s on wards, is among one of the most important question this paper would address.

861
In addressing this question, this paper would pay attention from theoretical perspective of the EU as a global actor and to take a look at the EU"s policy towards the Balkans which might primarily base on CFSP and ESDP. The process in which the European Union became an active player and global actor in the international scene is widely identified while its achievement, legitimacy, credibility continues to be contested which generated hot debates amongst, philosophers, expert, analyst, observers, decision maker and politician.
It wasn"t long until the Maastricht Treaty of EU in 1992 which assumed power of law in late 1993, in which the Western countries have the full legal basis upon which to collectively create or effectively implement foreign policies (Hancock & Peters, 2003). The CFSP of 1993 and then the ESDP signed in 1999 following the Amsterdam Treaty clearly show the goals, objectives of EU participations to create a cohesive foreign policy at the international level despite clash of interest and priorities (Ginsberg, 2007).
The comprehensive goal of the CFSP and ESDP is to defense, protect the security of European Union and promote security and cooperation outside its borders. While ESDP is an antique platform, the sustainability of a common and unify EU foreign policy remains something however positive in near future (Hobsbawn, 1997). In short, the primary difference between Kosovo and other breakthrough initiatives lies in the fact that Kosovo underwent genocide for In reaction to evolving trends in its south-eastern backyard, in March of 1991, the EU parliament surpassed a resolution which stipulated "that the constituent republic and self-sufficient provinces of Yugoslavia need to have the proper free and fair election to decide their very own future in a non-violent and democratic way and on the idea of identified global and internal borders" (Klemencic, 2006). This commitment was short because most EU"s government persevered to assist government and insisted that Yugoslavia must continue to be intact (Klemencic, 2006) with a purposed to carry the adversaries to an agreement, the EC in addition with USA enacted an arms embargo at the federal government of Yugoslavia (Bromley, 2007).__ The EC did not perceive the rise of ethnic wars within Yugoslavia as an impending threat to the security of the EC, Serbia specifically rejected the proposal and this allowed the EC to continue with the action of economic sanction on Yugoslavia.
To prevent Bosnia form entering the war, the EC offered the Lisbon agreement to Bosnia Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The Bosnian leadership refused to simply accept the provisions of the agreement, which could essentially carve out Bosnia into three regions and allocate land to the constituent parties in the amount which proportionate to their populace.

862
With the refusal of Alija Izetbegovic to simply accept the agreement a brutal war breakout until 1995 when the Dayton agreement ended the crisis. While the wars had been waged within the 1990s in Bosnia and Croatia, the political scenario in Kosovo were saved from erupting under the pacifist leadership of the Kosovo Albanian chief Ibrahim Rugova.
Rugova"s imaginative and prescient of gaining independent for Kosovo become based totally on a peaceful nonviolent technique, strategies that relied on the attraction to global community for popularity of Kosovo"s independence based on the notion of self-determination. In addition to other republics, Kosovo held a referendum in early Nineties wherein the overpowering majority of Kosovo Albanians voted for independence.
The worsening economic condition couple with the everyday repression of the Serb government made existence in Kosovo all however habitable. Many Kosovars commenced to doubt the feasibility and effectiveness of Rugova"s imaginative and prescient and armed companies began to educate and prepare inside the mountainous and deeper areas of Kosovo.

Analysis of European Union as an Effective Global Power (Foreign Security and Defense Policy) :-
Throughout, the period when the six heads of nation-states placed their names on the Treaty of Rome in 1957, scholars, politician, socialist, economist, security and legal thinkers, international expert analyst, theorist, and monitors of the European integration attempt to outline the character and future of the organization that transformed in growing European Union.
With practitioner like Charles De Gaulle aiming at a "Europe of Countries" in the Sixties, Jacques Delors defining the European Union as an "Unidentified Political Object" in the Nineteen Eighties (Drake 2000) and Joschka Fischer offering a "European Federation" in 2000 (Fischer,2000), some scholars have referred to it as a "Super State" (Morgan, 2005), likewise, "Normative Power" (Manners, 2001) and nevertheless others prevent the controversy by means of definitely denouncing it as an entity "sui generis" (McCormick, 1999).
We can evaluate the EU"s CFSP base on different perspectives and dimension of EU"s Common Foreign and Security Policy aims and objectives as well as also EU"s global approached and methodology toward foreign policy and security matter at the global level. This is because it vital in understanding the basic philosophy of EU"s CFSP and EU"s approach and character in world politics.
EU"s foreign policy field is divided into three level the common policy sector with the European Commission as the main player or actor (Common commercial policy), the external relation and interest of each member country and CFSP which is the intergovernmental basic structure of pillar two (Peterson, Smith, 2008). The first EU"s CFSP aim and objective which state EU must deal with deal with considerable international challenge, like civil war in the Balkans, State or regime failure and as in the case of Libya, managing conflicts in case Israeli-Palestine conflict in the Middle East region, EU through its institution provide humanitarian assistance to tackle issues like human right abuse, and also try to promote and foster democracy in the Balkans region of Europe for instance in March 1991 European Parliament has pass resolution which stipulate that Republic of Yugoslavia must conduct proper free and fair election, to define their future through democratic nonviolent method and the EU is ready to assist the newly elected government as well also insisted that Yugoslavia must remain intact.
Another issue under the first objective of EU"s CFSP is that through its foreign ministry the European External Action which provide diplomatic service to the EU"s foreign relation must especially on the development issue like precise governance, peace keeping through civilian military method which the EU employed, global diseases for example the HIV, EU provide either fund and Humanitarian assistance through cooperation both at the regional level and international level which help also to define EU, its influence on those areas towards the actors involve in the issue mention above as a global actor in international relations.
Furthermore do to its CFSP aims and goals which also again state that EU must seek cooperation, rule base multilateral world order in which peace and security, rule of law are ensure through strong regional cooperation and international cooperation make EU to be in a vital position to have the ability and capacity to influence other actors behavior in international world of politics, which make EU to have a greater effect on other region like Middle East (Iraq war 2003), Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or in war-ton Sudanese and the Crisis in former Balkans (Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Bosnia) in the 1990s.

863
Similarly, for the purposed of this study, we can have considered EU as an international actor when tracing it track record base on its CFSP aims and objective it set to achieve like the funding of non-European member state including development and humanitarian assistant. (Nugent, 2006), economy strength and impact, its strength to deliver external aid and development assistance, and finally most important and precisely its position in security and foreign policy.
The rigid character behavior of the EU"s external perception in foreign relations matters, consequently should not be persisted to be presented as unfavorable circumstances as 15) have asserted it is the EU that "Redefine our knowledge of the meaning of power", when looking at the EU"s foreign security aims and objectives that advocate for precise governance regional cooperation, promotion of human right, regional development, peace and security, rule of law all this have reshape our well know value and which may not be in current international discourse which is shape and fashion by post-modern value.
Likewise regarding the success and achievement of the European"s foreign security polices, it can be understood there has been a different understanding in our traditional perception of power which change our thought of realist military power (hard one) with the civilian-military (soft one) that the European Union has make used. At the same time as the EU is in a way not powerful in making a several military campaign without United State however it is a something which EU is not seeking in any respect to be involved in post-war peace and building of institution in Balkans. Indications shows the region is slowly moving in the direction to political stability but reversal endanger the path to period of prosperity. The process and approach in which EU become and effective player or actor in world affairs is widely identify however and more importantly its success, achievement continued to be question or argued by scholar international expert analyst and observer/ monitor of EU since its inceptions in 1957.

Challenges EU Face:-
The EU faces the institutional challenges for indicating its CFSP can actively have a greatest impact to foreign relations at the global level despite the clash of interest and priorities among even the member state as the result make it difficult for the EU"s CFSP aim, goals and objective to achieved relevant result base on the objective which its seek to accomplished.
Evidently we can observe this kind of clash of interest and priorities during the 2003 event at the UN Security Council, United State attempt to win majority of vote to declare action on Iraq because of Iraq invasion of Kuwait. It is of very important to note, Britain as at that time which also member of EU supported USA, while France which also a member of EU is against it, and this is the comment of France representative to UNSC at that particular time "France consider itself as one of USA friend but not necessary its sycophant and if we have something to say we say it" (UNSC, 2003) Furthermore still in the aspect of security there were challenges EU is currently facing as the result of both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan under the US back coalition forces which Britain is core participant.
Challenges and security threat posits by the international terrorist group like Al-Qaeda, Islamic State operatives moving free as the result of the war in Iraq defining them self as refuges crossing borders of Neighboring EU countries to come to Europe investigation show terrorist cells may be among those cross the EU border and Germany, Italy and Britain believed to be targeted by the terrorist.
Another issue which is also seen as a challenge confronting EU is because its lack resources available to carry or launch several hard military operations without either the help of NATO or USA because of its soft means of civilian military capability this is evident during the cold war period in which EU is under the protection of United State.

Summary:-
During 20 th century after the cold war the EU have been facing with a lot of international challenges especially on the security aspect, which result in coming of the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 came into force in 1993 that lead to the formation European Union an upgrade version of the former European Political Cooperation which was transformed in 1970s with the coming of Single European Act in 1986 came into force in 1987 it amend European Political Cooperation and pave way for the completion of single market.
EU is facing considerable list of international challenges, which include political integration, economic integration 864 relates to state which is the main cause of close cooperation. Social issues are also included and most importantly foreign security issue proven to be difficult to achieved based on the sets goal and objectives EU set to achieved in other to influence other actor and become a player at the global stage.
With the emergence of EU Common Foreign and Security Policy EU started to strategies into effect a huge number of common rules under broad remit of human security, starting with refuges immigration, counter-terrorism, organized crime, state failure, proliferation of weapon of mass destruction, which change in the EU scopes decades ago. It has further expressed it determination preference to act as a rational actor at the global level and raised its foreign and security goal and objectives with framing of the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Regarding EU global security strategies is one of the vital touched stone to understand EU philosophy and approach which EU also follow to became an actor at the global level. EU must take important decision to deal with considerable of international challenges and security matters such as civil-war, proliferation of weapon of mass destruction, terrorism, state-failure, disease and poverty-eradication. EU need also to pay specific attention on building of regional cooperation on its neighbor, the Balkans, Mediterranean region, the Caucasus and the Middle East region. Also among the other things are EU must seek cooperation, rule-based multilateral world order in which rule of law, international peace and security are ensured through strong regional and international establishment.
In conclusion there is need for EU to develop procedure and strategies to speak with one voice especially on the Common foreign and Security aspect to enable it reached it set goals and objective which it set target to achieved. Also another issue that is important was, EU need to upgrade their military approach from soft power which is the civilian-military capability to hard-military approach to enable it launched military action without seeking help from United State which its considered as its ally because in the world of high politics, the game is I have no permanent friend but a permanent interest.