The European Union’s role in a changing International Order: The Global Gateway Initiative

The power structures and norms of the Liberal International Order (LIO) are changing due to the rise of powers with reformist and revisionist agendas. The United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) are the two cornerstones of the current International Order and thus bear the main responsibility for its preservation. Acknowledging that one of the main factors driving the mutation of the LIO is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), we argue that the EU, owing to its Global Gateway Initiative, is the only entity capable of challenging China’s revisionist agenda. Therefore, through this paper, we seek to analyse the contribution of the Global Gateway to the conservation of liberal institutions and norms in global governance. In doing so, we will use the lens of Role Theory in an attempt to uncover the international role of the EU and interprets its global performance.