One of the major analytical shortcomings regularly made by EU and NATO experts today lies with exclusively seeing the European defence project as a post-World War II (WWII) phenomenon and the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as mainly a post-Cold War product. No analyst has so far seriously explored the idea of European defence predating WWII and the 20th century. Instead, since 1999 one frequently reads and hears about the ‘anomalous,’ ‘elusive’ CSDP suddenly complicating transatlantic relations. But the CSDP is hardly an oddity or aberration, and it is certainly not as mysterious as some might suggest. Drawing extensively from primary sources and predicated on an overarching evolutionist approach, this thesis shows that the present CSDP is an ephemeral security and defence concept, only the latest of its kind and full of potential. Drawing its deepest ideational roots from the (pre-)Enlightenment era, the CSDP leads to a pan-European defence almost irreversibly. A common defence for Europe is quite possible and, due to the growing impact of the exogenous (multipolar) momentum, can be realized sooner rather than later even without a full-fledged European federation. / May 2016

Depuis les années 1970, bien avant l’entrée en vigueur du traité de Maastricht, le statut de l’UE dans les relations internationales et donc sa puissance est une source des débats conceptuels. Bien que la construction européenne soit souvent vue comme un processus de renoncement à la puissance, l’idée d’une Europe puissance qui se substitute à l’impuissance des Etats membres après la Seconde Guerre mondiale est toujours présente parmi les représentants de divers approches des relations internationales: puissance civile, puissance normative, puissance militaire, puissance douce, etc. Il faut remarquer que la recherche pour les nouveaux concepts supposés décrire toujours mieux la nature énigmatique de la puissance européenne continue. L’objectif de ce travail est de contribuer à ce débat en utilisant le concept de smart power, combinaison raisonné de hard et de soft power, pour décrire le rapport de l’UE à la puissance. Le concept de smart power parait pertinent pour expliquer le modèle de la puissance de l’Union, même si, en pratique, l’UE a des difficultés à exercer le smart power en raison du manque de volonté parmi ces pays membres. / Since the 1970s, even before the Maastricht Treaty comes into force, the status of the EU in international relations and therefore its power is a source of conceptual debates. Although European integration is often seen as a process of renunciation of power, the idea of a European power which replaces the powerlessness of member states after the Second World War is always present among the representatives of various approaches to international relations: civilian power, normative power, soft power, military power, etc. It should be noted that the search for new concepts to describe better the enigmatic nature of European power is in progress.The aim of this work is to contribute to this debate by using the concept of smart power, effective combination of hard power and soft power, in order to describe the nature of the power of the EU. The concept of smart power seems relevant to explain the model of the EU’s power, although, in practice, the EU has difficulties in exercising smart power because of the lack of will among the member countries.

Aspiring to become a “global security actor,” the EU has, throughout the last decade, increasingly made use of its versatile toolbox in crisis management missions far beyond its own soil. Crisis management missions are particularly challenging when security is threatened on various levels at once, as is the case in Mali. There, addressing the conflict means combining military assistance with development aid, state-building efforts, and security sector reforms. Ambitious to apply a truly comprehensive approach, meaning an approach that bridges military and civilian efforts, the EU has launched two missions in Mali; yet it has refrained from providing a full-scale military operation. This case study aims to foster an understanding of European security actorness by accounting for the challenges of EU crisis management in general and in Mali in particular from a theoretical perspective that integrates realist, institutionalist, and constructivist understandings. Finally, this thesis contributes to the academic debate on the concept of strategic culture by analyzing to what extent the concept proves helpful for understanding the challenges inherent in European crisis management.

The present Master Thesis is a macro-level comparative case study that addresses the problem of most member states' lack of adequate motivation to acquire innovative military capabilities and contribute them to the North Atlantic Alliance. There has been a significant gap between NATO's ambition and its military capability since at least the 1999 Kosovo Crisis. Even today, a couple of years after the adoption of the longawaited new Strategic Concept, which confirmed NATO's role in crisis management beyond its borders, the evaluations of the recent NATO operation in Libya hint to fact that the gap persists. The question is: what factors play the most significant role in shaping state behaviour within NATO and what can be done to stimulate the member states' proactive attitude? The problem is addressed through the prism of Neorealism, which emphasizes structural constraints of state behaviour, and Constructivism, which, for its part, highlights the importance of domestic factors, namely state identity. Based on the results of the fuzzy-set analysis, it is argued that the harmonization of NATO's and EU's capability development initiatives, as well as the eventual military integration of lower-capability NATO member states is most likely to reset the balance between the Alliance's ambition and available...

This diploma thesis focuses on the development of the common EU security policy between the years 2014-2019. Its aim is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the rapid progress of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in recent years, as well as to an explanation of their current functioning. The work seeks to achieve this through the three dominant strands of new institutionalism (historical, rationalist and sociological), which have already proven to be the theories able to clarify the European integration process. The thesis examines the process of EU security integration and its strengthening through the creation of new tools in the security-political dimension. Each theoretical variant focuses on different issues and different part of reality, this way the thesis leads to a more comprehensive explanations. The basic research question set out is as follows: How can we explain the unprecedented development of a common EU security policy using the dominant strands of new institutionalism in the period 2014-2019? From a methodological point of view, it is conducted as a one-case qualitative study.

Background: In 2009, the European Union (EU) adopted the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This contributed to an already on-going change amongst the armed forces of the Union. No previous research has examined how the skills required of young officers in the EU are taught at the Basic Officer Education within either Sweden or Austria. Purpose: This thesis examines to what extent the skills needed of young officers in a CSDP-environment are taught during the Basic Officer Educations in Sweden and Austria. The purpose is to conclude if the Swedish and Austrian Basic Officer Educations are complying with the political wills of their respective countries, to adapt their armed forces to the EU and CSDP. Method: The author compares the Swedish and Austrian Basic Officer Education by examining curriculums and syllabuses, as well as conducting expert interviews with officials at the schools and comparing the results. The educations are examined based on how they educated the concept of CSDP and how interoperability and a European culture of defence are promoted. Conclusion: The results show that both Sweden and Austria educate their cadets in the CSDP and take measurements to promote interoperability and a European culture of defence. The results suggest that Austria does so to a further extent. Based on the results, the author suggests increased exchanges, Pooling &amp; Sharing during Basic Officer Education and further developments towards a common European Basic Officer Education. / <p>Erasmus</p>

L’obiettivo di questa tesi è di valutare che tipo di modello per la gestione delle crisi l’Unione Europea (UE) ha elaborato attraverso l’adozione e l’attuazione del Trattato di Lisbona, ma anche di capire che impatto ha prodotto la sua interazione con lo scenario internazionale di sicurezza. L’analisi è condotta a tre livelli: (1) strategico – elaborazione o revisione di concetti, politiche e documenti quadro; (2) istituzionale – creazione e riorganizzazione delle strutture di riferimento e dei processi decisionali; (3) operativo – pianificazione e gestione delle missioni civili e militari sul terreno. Lo scopo finale è quello di verificare se l’approccio dell’UE alla gestione delle crisi può considerarsi efficace per affrontare i possibili scenari futuri e come possa essere migliorato sulla base delle esperienze più recenti. / The objective of this thesis is to assess what kind of crisis management model the European Union (EU) has elaborated through the adoption and implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon and what is the impact produced by its interaction with the international security context. The analysis is conducted at three different levels: (1) strategic – elaboration or review of concepts, policies and framework documents; (2) institutional – establishment or reorganization of structures and decision-making process; (3) operational – planning and conduct of civilian and military missions on the ground. The final aim is to evaluate whether the EU’s approach to crisis management will be able to face up possible future scenarios and how this model might be improved on the basis of most recent experiences.