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The dynamics of an evolving European security and defence policy being accelerated by a shift in global security governance with the end of the cold war

Schorr, C. (2008) The dynamics of an evolving European security and defence policy being accelerated by a shift in global security governance with the end of the cold war.

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Abstract:Within the European Community attempts to integrate in the field of security and defence during the cold war failed, such as the European Defence Union. It did not work out due to the impossibility of finding consensus among the Member States on this issue on which national interests seemed to diverge too much, but also due to the predominant role of the NATO and the Western European Union (WEU). These two organisations were in charge of decision-making concerning security and defence matters in Europe during the cold war. After the cold war the role of the WEU and NATO in this respect became however a different one. This had to do first attempts of integration since the failed European Defence union were taken in 1992 with the establishment of the EU by the Maastricht Treaty and its three pillar structure whose successive treaty amendments lay the ground for the integration of security and defence into the Union framework. Member States, and especially France and the UK, had not been able to reach unanimous decisions and thus to foster integration in the policy field of Security and Defence until the European Council of Nice in 2000. These two key countries have been playing a significant role and do so until today in matters of European security and defence. Prior to their initiative of St. Malo in 1998 the European security and defence had mainly remained an issue of intergovernmental policy-making. How came the shift about in the end of 1990 towards more integration in the field of European defence and security? Why were the EC/EU not able to integrate in this field already during the cold war? At first sight, the answer to these questions seem to be self-evident concerning the predominant role of NATO and WEU, but regarding the fact that integration was reached in other fields, such as economics through the establishment of the Internal Market, they are not. One can thus assume that the EC/EU was facing obstacles on the way towards integrating security and defence into a common policy framework. This is exactly what will be examined in this paper: the factors which led to the European integration process in this field and the sudden intensification of the latter. Therefore I will focus on the following research question: Why has the EC/EU been struggling with institutionalising an effective and autonomous security and defence policy (ESDP) until the end of the 1990s?
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:89 political science
Programme:European Studies BSc (56627)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/59041
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