The present volume originates from a two-day conference, EU External Relations
Law and Policy in the Post-Lisbon Era, hosted by the Sheffield Centre for International
and European Law (SCIEL) at the School of Law, University of Sheffield
on 13 and 14 January 2011. The conference was generously funded by the Modern
Law Review and the University Association for Contemporary European Studies
(UACES).
Participants at the conference were invited to consider the scope, nature and
practice of EU External Relations Law and Policy in the Post-Lisbon Era. At the
time of the conference, the Treaty had entered into force some 13 months earlier,
so authors were able to reflect on some of the immediate consequences—both
theoretically and practically—brought about by the Treaty as well as some of the
incremental changes occurring during the period of Treaty reform. The response
and the breadth of papers discussed was testament to the healthiness of EU
external relations as a research area. The approach taken was deliberately interdisciplinary
in order to promote a wide understanding of the contemporary nature
of this dynamic field of study.