EU Performance in Multilateral Institutions: From 'Simple (1.0)' to 'Sophisticated Effectiveness (2.0)'

In this paper, we argue for an upgraded definition and operationalisation of the concept of European Union (EU) 'effectiveness' as a core element of EU 'performance' in multilateral institutions. Since the EU's self-declared ambition to support 'effective multilateralism', various scholars have assessed the EU's achievements. In the European foreign policy literature, systematic conceptualisations of performance are still scarce, though. The existing attempts (e.g. Jørgensen et al. 2011) have made use of a simple measure of EU effectiveness ('effectiveness 1.0') that focuses on goal achievement. Accordingly, EU effectiveness varies with the degree to which the EU has achieved its declared policy objectives. We argue that this 'simple' measure has important shortcomings since it takes the EU's policy objectives as a given rather than as an element of EU performance and effectiveness itself.
Therefore, we suggest that the characteristics of the EU's policy objectives should be part of the assessment of the EU's effectiveness. For example, those interested in knowing whether the EU performed more or less well in a multilateral institution will want to know the extent to which the policy objectives established by the EU were easy or ambitious in view of the international constellation of interests and were in line with internationally recognized collective objectives. While these features of the goals may also contribute to explaining 'effectiveness 1.0', they should be taken into account in the assessment itself - in addition to goal achievement - so as to arrive at 'effectiveness 2.0'. In addition, we also include the 'process' as an indicator of 'effectiveness 2.0', namely the 'strategic steps' that the EU takes in order to achieve its policy objectives. Analysing the 'process' will help us to make clear to what extent the EU has contributed to its degree of goal achievement itself, instead of third actors and/or external factors. This more sophisticated measure of effectiveness (2.0) allows us to get a better grip on the specific contribution the EU has made to arriving at particular international decisions (rather than simply measuring the degree to which such decisions correspond to the EU's policy objectives).
The paper proceeds in two major steps. First, we develop the theoretical argument by introducing core characteristics of EU policy objectives in multilateral institutions. Thereby, these core characteristics are systematically integrated into a sophisticated measurement of effectiveness (complementing the established criterion of goal achievement). Second, we apply this measure briefly to two cases so as to illustrate the added value of 'effectiveness 2.0'. The two cases explore the EU's effectiveness at (1) the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit (i.e. the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) displaying a low level of achievement of highly ambitious EU policy objectives; and (2) the 2003 Geneva and 2005 Tunis meetings of the World Summit on the Information Society of the International Telecommunication Union displaying a high level of achievement of rather unambitious EU policy objectives.