Human Security in EU Foreign Policy: Lessons from the Asia Pacific

The debate on EU's actorness has been thriving for at least two decades now. Related research questions have primarily focused on whether the EU acts with one voice in the world and whether it does so effectively. Corresponding empirical investigations have analysed the EU's presence in its neighbourhood, the relations with international and regional organisations, the partnerships of the EU with powerful nation-states (U.S.A., Russia, China to name but a few). Little do we know, though, about the role and presence of the EU in sub-systems of the international system, in which the EU and its member-states have not, at first glance at least, immediate interests. Along these lines, this paper examines whether the EU is a human security provider in the Asia Pacific. The first section of the paper briefly presents the concept of human security and how it has been perceived in EU circles. The second section provides a systematic empirical analysis of the means that the EU employs in the Asia Pacific to offer human security. Foreign policy instruments, development, trade, humanitarian aid, global health and environmental instruments are assessed. The concluding remarks discuss about how EU's presence in the Asia Pacific as a human security provider may shed new light on the debate around EU's actorness.