The War in Ukraine and Studying the EU as a Security Actor
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the most serious conflict on the European continent since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, if not since World War II. The amount of military and civilian casualties, displaced persons and material destruction after two months of war is astonishing. Unlike the Balkan wars, the direct involvement […]
Multi-Layered Actions? Sustaining Partnerships in the EU Integrated Approach to Conflicts and Crises
The European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy can be conceptualised as “multi-layered” action. Multi-layeredness refers to two interrelated ways of intervening in crises abroad, which the EU has articulated in the so-called Integrated Approach to crises and conflicts. First is the need for the EU and its member states to partner with diverse stakeholders acting […]
European Reactions to AUKUS and Implications for EU Strategic Autonomy
On 15 September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced AUKUS, a trilateral deal aimed at intensifying security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific area ostensibly to counterbalance Chinese influence. While AUKUS foresees cooperation in a number of policy areas, its core element is the provision of US-made nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. This has […]
Paper/Not Yet Fit for the World: Piecemeal Buildup of EU Military, Cyber and Intelligence Assets by Kristi Raik
This new JOINT Paper by Kristi Raik, Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) analyses EU’s military, cyber and intelligence tools, to understand how they can enhance crisis and conflict management efforts.
Not Yet Fit for the World: Piecemeal Buildup of EU Military, Cyber and Intelligence Assets
In the past decades, the EU has developed an increasingly broad, multi-sectoral set of foreign and security policy instruments. All of these can be relevant in sustaining the EU’s crisis and conflict management efforts. While trying to create a more effective and integrated toolbox, the Union has faced a number of challenges. First, as the […]
Regional Fragmentation and EU Foreign and Security Policy
There is broad academic consensus on the fact that the fragmentation of regions presents a significant challenge for the EU. Fragmentation undermines the authority of central states, the EU’s most natural counterparts, and distributes it amongst a great number of actors – including non-state armed groups. To address fragmentation, the EU should increase coordination between […]
Afghanistan, AUKUS and European Strategic Autonomy
Security and defence are increasingly grabbing the spotlight in European public debates. In just a few weeks, the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan and the deal between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) to share nuclear submarine technology and step up their security partnership in the Indo-Pacific have reinvigorated the debate […]
The Internal Contestation of EU Foreign and Security Policy
A Literature Review of the Implications of Intra-EU Contestation on Crises and Conflicts Abstract: A certain amount of political disagreement and internal debate within the member states has always been part of EU (foreign and security) policy-making. Over the past few years, however, domestic actors have fundamentally challenged, undermined and even reversed established EU norms, […]
Conceptualising the Multi-Actor Character of EU(rope)’s Foreign Policy
While there exists a plethora of theories aiming to make sense of the European Union and its foreign policy, no single existing theory has yet managed to capture the multi-actorness of what can be referred to as “the broader area of EU and European foreign and security policy”. A conceptual framework building on the current […]