This text sets out to locate the European Union in the context of International Relations theory and to explore the ways in which the European Union frames and conducts its international relations. Each chapter deals with the three key themes of the volume: the EU as a sub-system of international relations, the EU and the processes of international relations, and the EU as a power. Part I surveys the subject's roots, Part II deals with the institutions and processes of policy formation and Part III looks at the key themes of the study of the EU as an international actor.