G. V. Toropchin. Germany’s and European Union’s Indo-Pacific Stance: Towards a Value-Based Pragmatism

https://doi.org/10.15507/2413-1407.033.202501.063-076
EDN: https://elibrary.ru/kcwwyd
УДК / UDC 327.3

Abstract

Introduction. The growing use of the Indo-Pacific concept in the European and German discourses necessitates a closer scrutiny of its implementation. The author’s hypothesis, founded on the assumption of Germany’s central role in the European Union’s security and defence policy, consists in that Berlin, together with Paris, has been playing the role of a key contributor to the preparation and implementation of the European Union’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. The research is aimed at defining Germany’s and European Union’s stance with regard to the Indo-Pacific region.

Materials and Methods. The methodology involves qualitative narrative analysis as well as elements of discourse analysis in addition to conventional approaches such as scrutinising a number of sources to draw the underlying trends. The study is based on Germany’s and European Union’s official documents pertaining to the Indo-Pacific.

Results. The article shows that the transregional cooperation between Germany and the Asian nations is currently undergoing a transition stage from primarily economic cooperation to interaction in more sensitive spheres such as security. All of this is happening against the backdrop of increasingly pronounced securitisation processes in the region caused in no small measure by the US vs China face-off.

Discussion and Conclusion. Both German and European stances can be characterised by a whimsical combination of pragmatism and value-based rhetoric. Among the values listed in the official documents are liberal freedoms including press freedom, civil society, free trade etc. Albeit having arguably less at stake in the Indo-Pacific vis-à-vis France, Germany has also exerted a considerable influence on the development of a joint European Union vision of the Indo-Pacific that was ulteriorly materialised in a formalised strategy. The paper contributes to the literature by revealing the peculiarities of Germany’s and European Union’s Indo-Pacific policies.

Keywords: Germany, European Union, Indo-Pacific, European Union Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Policy Guidelines in the Indo-Pacific

Conflict of interest. The author declares no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study was funded by Russian Science Foundation according to the research project № 22-78-10118 (https://rscf.ru/project/22-78-10118/).

Acknowledgments. The author expresses his gratitude to peer reviewers for their constructive feedback.

For citation: Toropchin G.V. Germany’s and European Union’s Indo-Pacific Stance: Towards a Value-Based Pragmatism. Russian Journal of Regional Studies. 2025;33(1):63–76. https://doi.org/10.15507/2413-1407.033.202501.063-076

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About the author:

Gleb V. Toropchin, Cand.Sci. (Hist.), Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Faculty of Humanities, Novosibirsk State Technical University (20 Prospekt K. Marksa, Novosibirsk 630073, Russian Federation), Associate Professor, Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tyumen (6 Volodarskogo St., Tyumen 625003, Russian Federation), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8055-1202, Researcher ID: I-5829-2016, Scopus ID: 57194636373, SPIN-code: 1524-2434, glebtoropchin@mail.ru

Availability of data and materials. The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the author on reasonable request.

The author has read and approved the final manuscript.

Submitted 10.09.2024; revised 07.02.2025; accepted 14.02.2025.