Recent years have witnessed the return of competition between the world's most powerful states, which is exerting a significant impact on EU foreign and security policy and constraining the EU's room for manoeuvre as well. The advent of an increasingly multipolar world also raises questions about the reach of the EU's interests and influence -- and also over what kind of actor the EU seeks to be.

This podcast will explore how power competition is a major factor hampering EU efforts at crisis management and conflict resolution in three regions: Eastern Europe, with a focus on Ukraine; the Middle East, with a focus on Iran; and the Indo-Pacific, with a focus on the South China Sea.

Zachary Paikin, Researcher at CEPS Brussels is joined by Kristi Raik, Deputy Director and Head of the Foreign Policy Programme at ICDS Tallinn; Riccardo Alcaro, JOINT Project Coordinator and Head of the Global Actors Programme at IAI Rome; and Gilang Kembara, Researcher at CSIS Jakarta.