Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 1,3 (A), Free University of Berlin (OSI - Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science), course: HS 15075 »The Big Council:The Post-Nizza-Trail European Union, language: English, abstract: In 1998, JAN ZIELONKA, professor at the European University of Florence, declared that the Common European Foreign and Security Policy, established in 1991, failed. Furthermore, he found that the European Union should perceive itself as a "civic power" and not try to enter the field of common defence nor grasp the honour of leading the European security matters (ZIELONKA: 1998). The arguments he presented were very interesting and, over all, quite convincing. But, what happened in the following few months was the complete opposite of what he assumpted. Later that year, the most important sceptic of the European integration in security and defence matters, Great Britain, broke its ′splendid isolation′. The UK signed (together with its traditional "political opponent", France) the ′Saint Malo′ declaration about cooperation in creating a common European Defence. Within one year, the 15 states of the EU grounded the European Security and Defence Policy during their official summits, unofficial meetings, and bilateral agreements - something they had not been able to create in the forty-years long history of the European integration. Regarding security matters, the European Union is very heterogeneous inside and it will be even more after the near eastern enlargement. The ESDP is organised between both NATO and WEU members, the NATO and non-WEU member Denmark and the ′neutral and notallied′ ones (see Diagram). That means, that the ESDP is partly inside NATO and the WEU, partly only within NATO and partly completely outside. As LOTHAR RÜHL noticed (RÜHL: 1999, pp. 8-10) - the whole construction was narrower than NATO (before the 1999 enlargement) where only Turkey, Norway, and Iceland were both outside the EU and the WEU. Apart from that amusing "tongue twister", this heterogeneous structure reflects remarkably in the ESDP policymaking.

Security and defence is the area in which the EU has advanced most in recent years. A principal element of this process is the proliferating number of military and civilian crisis management missions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Clearly, Europe has come a long way since the disappointments and frustration in the 1990s, when, in light of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia, analysts argued that the EU foreign and security policy was ‘neither common, nor foreign, nor dealing with security, nor (could) be called a policy.’ Since then the newly developed European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) has become the necessary framework for the formulation and implementation of effective European security policy. This book is the first-ever in-depth inquiry of the ESDP in action. It analyzes the implementation of military and civilian missions in the Balkans, Southern Caucasus, Africa and Asia and asks what impact they have on the ground. The EUJUST Themis in Georgia, the Aceh Monitoring Mission in Indonesia as well as EUSEC-R.D. Congo and EUPOL Kinshasa are examined in The European Security and Defence Policy will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, security, European studies, foreign policy, peacekeeping and transatlantic relations.

"As the United States continues to adjust to its role in the post-Cold War world, the transatlantic partnership remains fundamental to US security concerns. Commander Gunning[alpha]s paper is a wake-up call suggesting that Europe is concerned about US intransigence when it comes the security partnership with Europe. While the United States has often encouraged the Europeans to improve capabilities and take on a greater share of the defensive burden, their recent efforts to do so have often been viewed as paradoxical to US concerns. Policymakers on this side of the Atlantic worry that Europe in some ways is moving towards going it alone with the development of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Still, US desires for increased burdensharing need to be reconciled with ESDP. Commander Gunning highlights these differences and spells out how, in his opinion, it is possible for the United States to remain engaged in Europe and to allow the European Union to develop its own defense identity. The differences of opinion between the two sides are more "speed bumps" than "road blocks" and some disagreement and frustration is to be expected. The conclusion here is that security interests on both sides of the Atlantic will be served in the long run by encouraging the development of a more autonomous European defense capability and through American patience as that process unfolds."--Forward.

European Security after Iraqdeals with the key questions about the effect of the Iraq war, from the invasion of 2003 onwards, on relations within the European region and between Europe and the wider world. It is concerned with both immediate impacts and longer term trends in intra-European and transatlantic relations. Formerly published as a special issue of 'Perspectives on European Politics and Society', Volume 5, No. 3, 2004.

This substantially updated and revised edition offers a comprehensive overview of the challenges confronting the political system as well as the international politics of the European Union. It draws from a rich spectrum of regional integration theories to determine what the Union actually is and how it is developing. The book examines constitutional politics of the European Union, from the Single European Act to the Treaty of Nice and beyond. The ongoing debate on the future of Europe links together questions of democracy and legitimacy, competences and rights, and the prospects for European polity-building. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the emerging European polity and the questions that further treaty reform generate for the future of the regional system. The authors also assess the evolving European security architecture, the limits and possibilities of a genuine European foreign, security and defence policy, and the role of the European Union in the post-Cold War international system. Common themes involve debates about stability and instability, continuity and change, multipolarity and leadership, co-operation and discord, power capabilities and patterns of behaviour. The book traces the defining features of the 'new order' in Europe and incorporates an analysis of the post-September 11 context. This major new edition will be of particular interest to academics, policy-makers and students with an interest in the politics and governance of contemporary Europe, as well as to those pursuing a career in international affairs.

This book explains the creation of the European Union's Security and Defence Policy - to this day the most ambitious project of peacetime military integration. Whether hailed as a vital step in the integration of Europe or berated as a wasteful threat to U.S. power, European citizens are increasingly interested in the common defence policy. Today, "European Defence" is more popular than the European Union itself, even in Great Britain. Mérand addresses the fundamental challenge posed by military integration to the way we think about the state in the 21st Century. Looking back over the past 50 years, he shows how statesmen, diplomats and soldiers have converged towards Brussels as a "natural" solution to their concerns but also as something worth fighting over. The actors most closely associated to the formation of nation-states are now shaping a transgovernmental security and defence arena. As a result, defence policy is being denationalized. Exploring the complex relations between the state, the military, and citizenship in today's Europe, Mérand argues that European Defence is a symptom, but not a cause, of the transformation of the state. This book is an original contribution to the theory of European integration. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Mérand develops a political sociology of international relations which seeks to bridge institutionalism and constructivism. His careful study of practices, social representations and power structures sheds new light on security and defence cooperation, but also on European cooperation more generally.

Europe faces an increasingly unstable and dangerous neighbourhood. The continuing war in Syria, a humanitarian crisis in the region and the weakening of state structures have created a combustible environment, which has contributed to the refugee and migration crisis and the rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Meanwhile, the conflict in eastern Ukraine appears to have become frozen, and relations with Russia are dominated by sanctions. In such a moment of uncertainty and upheaval, the discipline of developing a new strategy is welcome. First and foremost, a new EU foreign and security strategy must be underpinned by the recognition that the driving force in foreign policy is the Member States: it must provide the overarching framework for how Member States can act more collectively, and offer them the political framework to act within and through the EU. A new strategy for the EU must undertake a forthright process of prioritisation, agreed by the Member States. It should set out where the EU should act, and take into account what means it has at its disposal. It must be driven by a sober assessment of the risks facing the Union, its security interests therein and a clear-sighted analysis of the resources the Union can bring to bear.

This volume serves as a prism through which the European Union's external relations and security can be assessed. Experts tackle strategic issues such as Russia's relationship with the West, the rise of China (with special reference to arms supplies), Iran"s nuclear program, and European homeland security against the background of global terrorism. On these issues and others, transatlantic relations continue to be more relevant than ever, with the United States and the EU intertwined in the world's tightest network of economic and societal relations. As the enlarging EU stretches to cover an expanding area of competence, its responses to these challenges affect not only its internal security but increasingly that of its neighbors and other powerful actors on the world stage.