Description
The EU–UK foreign, security and defence policy (FSDP) relationship has been transformed in a short space of time from a member state enmeshed in EU decision-making and implementation, through a brief period of ‘shadowing’ during the Transition, to the current state of absent agreement. This article explores, how, in the absence of a formal EU-UK agreement, there has been the establishment of ad hoc patterns of managing interaction on FSDP issues. The article locates an EU-UK muddling through FSDP relationship within a broader post-Brexit pattern of UK European foreign policy that exhibits patterns of differentiation (demonstrating the capacity to caucus with other groupings to highlight new possibilities – e.g. Five Eyes partners); compensation (prioritisation of other foreign-policy cooperation formats in Europe - most particularly bilateral and mini-lateral cooperation with European states); and competition (seeking a differently calibrated relationship from the EU’s third country partners – illustrated in the relationship with Turkey).
