This paper focuses on the causal ideas of structural peace in the EU’s international strategy as it has developed since the 2003 European Security Strategy. EU diplomacy is generally characterised by having the institutionalisation and regionalisation of relationships as well as the promotion of EU values and political principles world-wide as strategic structural objectives, in manifestations of an underlying causal idea of structural peace. However, the viability of the instruments associated with this general strategy in concrete relationships needs a closer examination.
The paper will take the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as a case study. By examining existing ties between the two regions, several legal, institutional and political factors that have led to the current state of affairs are identified. This will allow for understanding the prospects for the application of EU instruments and the general strategic challenges faced by the EU in terms of promoting structural peace in more depth.