In this thesis, I explore the prospects for trust in international relations. I advance an agency-centred model that paradoxically emphasises both vigilance and vulnerability between states. I argue that trust is created through the dual diplomatic pursuits of risk management (e.g. monitoring and securing individual state interests) and relationship management (e.g. promoting shared goals, institutions and values). This model is then employed to evaluate the evolution of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) into the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 1972-2002. Despite a recent surge in the study of trust in the social sciences, trust has not been explored comprehensively in the discipline of international relations (IR). In particular, the work done in IR has neglected the kernel of trust that distinguishes it from other concepts such as prediction and cooperation; that is, the dynamic of suspension, originally elucidated by the sociologist Georg Simmel, which permits the leap from uncertainty (and unacceptable risk) to positive expectation. Rather than 'reasonable doubt', trust involves giving another 'the benefit of the doubt.' The trust model is capable of providing a novel interpretation of the history, normative declarations and activities of the CSCE during the late Cold War; and the OSCE's post-Cold War role in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation among its member states. For example, the OSCE's absent military capacity (e.g. vis-a-vis NATO) restricts its 'thick' risk management competence. The OSCE's limited legal capacity (e.g. vis-a-vis the EU) likewise restricts its 'thick' relationship management competence. Nevertheless, the OSCE's confidence-building activities, combined with its role as a forum for interstate dialogue explicitly linking security with international norms-especially democracy and human rights-fosters a 'propensity to trust' upon which member states are increasingly seeking to give each other the benefit of the doubt.

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This thesis is an attempt to analyse, in legal terms, the theory and implementation in practice of an "ethical foreign policy" by the European Union. It focuses on relations between the Union and certain developing States. The thesis is primarily composed of two distinct substantive parts. The first substantive part is composed of two chapters. This part firstly investigates which international legal rules authorise or oblige the Union, the European Community or the Member States to promote certain values in third States or in certain circumstances take action. It further examines the legal limits which under international law constrain such policies. It then goes on to examine policy and practice from a Union/Community law perspective. Here the thesis analyses: the relationship between the Union and Community pillars; the instruments available to the Union and Community in the pursuance of foreign policy objectives; and the scope of the Community and Union's competence in implementing an ethical foreign policy. The second substantive part of thesis examines practice. It analyses the importance attached to ethical values and their relationship with other priorities and objectives. Chapter Four examines relations with Myanmar, Nigeria and Pakistan. Chapter Five looks at relations with the Palestinian Authority and Israel in the overall context of the Middle East Peace Process. Chapter Six examines the Union's policy of humanitarian and emergency aid. The thesis finally attempts to draw some conclusions, as to the efficacy of the policies and instruments utilised and the approaches adopted in practice. It is argued that the Union should concentrate its efforts on certain specific rights and territories and abandon the all-encompassing policy it is currently attempting to implement.

The aim of the thesis is to provide an understanding of the practical and conceptual significance of foreign, security and defence policies within the changing epistemology of the state, and the impact of the development of such policies upon the process of European integration. In order to achieve this analysis the thesis proceeds by examining the linkage made in traditional International Relations and Strategic Studies discourse between the state and security before considering alternative concepts whereby the state is becoming detached from its role as the primary provider of security in the international system. This is followed by an examination and assessment of the man theories of integration International Relations. An historical bridging chapter then highlights the relationship between foreign and security policy and the process of European integration. The two core empirical chapters focus upon the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) and are linked by a short chapter assessing the significant of the second Treaty on European Union, concluded at Amsterdam. The former traces factors leading to the inclusion of CFSP into the Treaty on European Union (TEU) at Maastricht followed by an outline of the institutional structures established and an assessment of CFSP in operation. The latter considers the factors promoting and preventing the EU’s acquisition of a defence capability. In particular attention is drawn to the significance of reform within the Atlantic Alliance, the future of the Western European Union (WEU) and the national positions of the British and French governments. The content of these chapters has required constant updating as circumstances change. A great deal of information for these chapters is, therefore, based two series of elite interviews, the first with British officials and Members of the European Parliament conducted during the summer of 1997; the second with personnel from EU, WEU and NATO institutions, conducted in March 1999. Finally a conclusion is reached as to the significance of such developments in assessing the nature of the European Union.

This research aims to unravel whether joint policies and supranational solutions can be forged within the sui generis 'laboratory' of the European Parliament (EP). enabling a European collective identity to emerge rather than simply the sum of national sentiments, preferences and ambitions. In particular, it intends to ascertain whether vested national interests expressed by the various Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been overcome within their respective political groups, on the way to becoming effective and cohesive parties at European level. In order to validate or refute the above hypothesis, foreign policy, traditionally regarded as a sacred domain and stronghold of the nation state, is taken as a yardstick. Whilst bearing in mind the EP's limited competence in this field, the question at the heart of the thesis is whether the European Parliament is likely to become a genuine international actor or whether it is likely to remain a forum for discussion, functioning as the 'voice of conscience' and 'dissent' of the Community and its member states. As such, the research explores the parliamentary dynamics behind the definition of a common position vis-a-vis two major events of the 1990s: the Gulf and the Yugoslav crises. A qualitative investigation into the role of the political groups combined with a quantitative analysis of MEP voting behaviour is carried out in order to assess the interactions within and between the political alignments of the polychromatic Europarliamentary spectrum with respect to the aforementioned cases. Whereas the political groups reached a level of internal cohesion vis-a-vis these crises, the views of the European Parliament appeared rather ambiguous due to intergroup divergences. It is the contention of this thesis that the political groups have come to constitute embryonic transnational political parties which are deemed to play an increasingly important role in the development of the European Parliament, in the evolution of party politics at European level as well as in the European Union's policy-making.

This thesis examines the emergence of EU-level rules in defence industrial matters within the context of European integration and inter-state cooperation more generally. This is a remarkable development, as the defence industrial policy area has been viewed as a core of nation state sovereignty and appeared impervious to injections of “more Europe.” At the centre of this nascent policy regime is the increasingly institutionalised European Defence Equipment Market (EDEM). The first and most significant elements of EDEM to date have been the 2009 Defence Procurement Directive issued by the European Commission and the voluntary Code of Conduct on Defence Procurement launched by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2006. These sets of rules have materialised despite EU member states’ resistance to meaningful constraints of national autonomy in defence procurement, and a distaste for the involvement of the European Commission in particular. An analytical puzzle thus emerges: why have member states acquiesced to binding regulation in the shape of the Directive, having already enacted a soft cooperation mechanism represented by the Code? The thesis answers this question by pursuing three lines of inquiry, which correspond to three hypotheses and specify clear pathways whereby external adaptation pressures, such as the Euro-Atlantic defence budgetary trends, may result in states’ acceptance of particular constraints. Firstly, the project examines the lobbying activity of the EU’s major transnational defence firms in pursuit of a larger, more integrated “home” defence equipment market. In addition, this thesis evaluates the success of the European Commission as a determined “policy entrepreneur” in securing member states’ acquiescence to unprecedentedly binding defence procurement rules. Finally, the development of an EU security and defence policy as a source of “vital policy rationale” for an EU defence equipment market is also investigated. The tension between the supranational and intergovernmental modes of organising the defence industrial field constitutes a central theme of this thesis, while the “policy cycle” framework is used to order the causal significance of each hypothesis.

Prior to the EU’s Eastern enlargement in 2004 there was much academic speculation about its repercussions for EU foreign policy. Although scholars agreed that the eight newcomers from Central and Eastern Europe would have an impact on the EU’s foreign policy, it remained unclear how and to what extent they would do so. This thesis identifies and evaluates the impact of the CEECs on the substance of EU foreign policy in three areas including development cooperation, neighbourhood policy and energy security. It analyses why the CEECs have sometimes succeeded in having an impact and at other times not. It differentiates between three categories of the CEECs' impact (defensive, divisive and innovative) as well as three aspects of policy substance (regional coverage, policy objectives and principles and policy instruments). The CEECs' impact varies along the three areas and the different stages of the policymaking process. In long-standing traditional areas such as development cooperation, it has been largely defensive and limited to soft law instruments while in regional or emerging areas such as neighbourhood policy and energy security the CEECs’ impact has been higher as well as innovative and/or divisive. To analyse why the CEECs' impact varies from case to case, the thesis draws on insights from the literature on EU (foreign) policy-making and on small states in EU foreign policy. Three sources of impact (material, institutional and ideational) are systematically applied to selected in-depth case studies in each of the three EU foreign policy areas. The thesis concludes that ideational and/or institutional factors are crucial for member states’ impact at the agenda setting stage whereas at the decision-making stage material sources of impact prevail. In order to have impact at the decision-making stage the CEECs need the support of at least two large 'old' EU member states.

The study seeks to understand the nature and development of the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) in peacekeeping using the case of the peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) between 2003 and 2008. The EU deployment in 2003 of an Interim Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF) in DR Congo represented an important shift in the role of regional organisations, as it was deployed outside its geographical setting for peacekeeping reasons. Furthermore, the co-deployment of EU and UN forces highlighted the changing pattern in peacekeeping, as regional organisations were starting to play an important role in burden sharing with the UN, thereby enhancing the notion of effective multilateralism. However the seemingly positive rhetoric emanating from the EU and UN about the partnership did not necessarily reflect the reality of the relationship. Fundamental to the study are issues concerning the involvement of regional actors outside their geographical spheres. Key questions are raised regarding the motives of regional organisations and the UN. Such questions concern, for instance, the motives behind the UN calling for EU involvement in DR Congo (at the expense of the African Union and nations) and factors that persuaded the EU to answer the call. The dynamics of the EU-UN cooperation are analysed from a political and operational dimension. Key components of the operational cooperation are essentially command and control, logistics and communication. The political cooperation components include the course taken by actors while using the structures set up to aid the partnership and the already existing departments within both organisations that facilitated the initial interaction. Further questions arise concerning cooperation between the UN and EU from the political and operational level. These include questions concerning the informal and formal mechanisms put into place to resolve the divergences between the missions. In addition, perceptions of the recipient people and the neighbouring states are examined in order to assess if this partnership is working or not. The results of the research which entailed a number of interviews and an analysis of primary and secondary data show that the motives of the EU and UN, plus the dynamics of their cooperation can be analysed in a multi-layered paradigm involving the following levels of interaction: i) Operational level — MONUC and EUFOR RD Congo, IEMF, EUPOL and EUSEC ii) Political level — local and national actors iii) Political level — regional and international actors. For instance, from an operational perspective the UN considered EU deployment as suitable especially for the provision of resources. The EU on the other hand viewed the deployment in DR Congo as an opportunity to become a global actor especially in the aftermath of the fallout from the US and its allies’ invasion of Iraq. The local, national and regional viewed the motivation for the involvement of the EU alongside the UN with suspicion. This was mainly based on the fact that key players like Belgium and France had vested interests in the DR Congo. There was dissatisfaction regarding the marginal military role given to the regional and continental powers yet the conflict was in their backyard. The nature of the path of the cooperation, especially from an operational perspective, was not smooth. This can be attributed to the different organisational cultures and motivations between the organisations. The internal dynamics of individual organisations played a role in determining the level of cooperation between the two organisations. In light of the above, the research came to several conclusions which included the fact that, due to the complex motives and differing aims of the actors, cooperation at the political level does not necessarily dovetail with cooperation at the operational level. Although the organisations have set up a system of collaboration through the declarations of 2003 and 2007, it has not been fully utilized. National and organisational interests and organisational culture among others can hinder cooperation. Nevertheless, despite a divide between the political and operational aspects of the missions, actors in the field have found ways of addressing operational problems, though significant issues remain concerning the viability of the methods used to address them in the long run.

This thesis analyses cooperation between France, Germany and the United Kingdom (the ‘EU-3’) throughout different episodes of the 2011 uprisings in Libya. Focusing on (i) the provision humanitarian assistance and consular support, (ii) measures taken in the realm of border protection and migration management, (iii) the use of restrictive measures, (iv) the diplomatic recognition of the Libyan opposition, and (v) the decision to intervene (or not) militarily, the study provides the first overview of the activities of the three most influential member states at the time. Drawing on a large set of original empirical material from primary and secondary sources, including 77 semi-structured interviews with foreign policy elites and experts in Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels, the thesis applies a novel two-step explanatory framework to account for decision-makers’ actions. This approach first identifies those normative factors which influenced the way in which decision-makers constructed their respective state’s interests, and subsequently demonstrates how these interests helped to form their interpretations of a given situation in light of the costs and benefits of the various options available to them. The study thus contributes to the growing body of literature that underlines the added value of ideabased research in foreign and security policies, and to crisis response in particular.