EU global peace diplomacy: instruments to support status processes

This chapter examines the legal and institutional contributions of the EU to the global governance of peaceful settlement of disputes (PSD). The chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the current international legal framework for PSD and the status of the EU in it. Section 3 provides a geographical sketch of the peace processes in which the EU has been actively involved in to tackle the root causes of armed conflict. Special attention is given to the different methods employed by the EU to peacefully resolve status disputes in the Western Balkans. The chapter offers insights into the EU's new structures to engage as a global peace broker. It focuses on the capacity of the European External Action Service to shape, both legally and institutionally, the twenty-first century's global system of PSD governance and match the Lisbon Treaty's ambitions in this respect. It concludes with an evaluation of the EU's contribution to the global system of governance in the area of peaceful dispute settlement.