Europeanization is an increasingly popular research area within the field of European integration, and has been commonly used in the study of national foreign policies, despite their distinctive intergovernmental nature. However, the concept of Europeanization had not yet been applied in literature concerning the EU and nuclear weapons, with the latter typically engaging only minimally with theory, and consisting mostly of policy-oriented empirical research. Therefore, in this work we use Europeanization as an analytical approach to study the impact of the EU in Portugal within that framework. We argue that while the subject of nuclear weapons is not a first- order priority for Portugal, EU membership has had a small impact in the country’s discourse, legislation, and actions, regarding nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and has led to an improvement of the Portuguese export control services.
David Ferreira (david_Silva_Ferreira@iscte.pt)
Center for International Studies (CEI-IUL)