DOI: 10.46340/eppd.2026.13.2.5
Manana Morchiladze, PhD student in International Relations
Georgian Technical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
How to cite: Morchiladze, M. (2026). The Place of the European Union in the Global System of Powers and its Practical Challenges. Evropský politický a právní diskurz, 13, 2, 65-70. https://doi.org/10.46340/eppd.2026.13.2.5
Abstract
Relevance of the topic: At the present stage, the systemic development of the European Union has become largely dependent on changes in the global security environment. The ongoing Russia–Ukraine war has had a particularly strong impact, significantly changing the architecture of European security and the role of the European Union in international politics. This process has strengthened the importance of the EU’s security policy and intensified the issue of its positioning in the global balance of power. In addition, it fundamentally changed the European security order. A norm-based cooperative system was replaced by hard power and a policy of deterrence. The war ended the illusion of “perpetual peace” in Europe and forced the continent to begin building a new, strong, militarized security system.
Under these conditions, it becomes relevant to understand the crises of the systemic development of the European Union not only as temporary problems but as transformational processes. Therefore, the analysis of EU crises in the context of systemic development is important, which makes it possible to assess the future of European integration and its place in contemporary international relations.
The analysis of EU crises shows that the union is in a stage of systemic transformation, where geopolitical uncertainty, energy vulnerability, and internal fragmentation force Europe to reconsider the fundamental foundations of integration.
In contemporary international relations, the European Union is trying to establish itself as a strategically autonomous actor, which implies close coordination of economic and security policy. The future of the European Union will depend on how successfully the member states maintain a unified position in making strategic decisions. That is, how the European Union manages simultaneously to expand and deepen integration, that is, more effective governance.
In recent years, academic speculation and political opinions about the desirable future of the European Union have sharply increased. These processes pose a significant threat to the internal stability of the European Union. Each of these development options aims to achieve a certain image of the future that is desirable for some political forces of the union and unacceptable for others. The objective reality of the systemic crisis pushes the elites of EU countries to choose the final stage of European integration, a choice that they managed to avoid for many decades.
The research aims to determine the transatlantic role of the European Union in modern global politics; to identify the function of the European Union as part of the international system in the conditions of growing competition between the United States and China on the international arena; to reveal the real prospects for establishing itself in the global space.
Keywords: European Union, United States, China, balance of power, global balance of power, international system, hard power, deterrence policy.
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