This chapter's main objective is to discuss some of the principles and ideas which are commonly evoked, in both academic and political circles, regarding the EU as an international actor and its specific participation in global governance. A substantial part of it is devoted more specifically to the European security and defence policy and to the strengthening of the EU's ability to intervene in crisis-stricken areas. Accordingly, both the unleashed potential born of the EU's ambitions on the international stage, as well as the difficulties that the EU has to face in the current state of the world system, are to be detailed.