This thesis deals with cooperation between France, Germany and the United Kingdom within the area of foreign and security policy. Two case studies are presented, one of them concerning cooperation between the three states within and outside institutions in 1980 following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the other dealing with cooperation concerning the crisis in Macedonia in 2001. In accordance with the approach of neoliberal institutionalism the primary hypothesis is that cooperation is primarily determined by the interests of states but it is also limited by norms and affected by the institutions of which the three states are members. The study describes the large variety of forms of cooperation that exist between France, Germany and the United Kingdom, in which the United States also plays an important part, and which also includes their cooperation within a number of international institutions. The study also points to the new forms of interaction between states and institutions that have come about since the Cold War ended, and which give a stronger role to institutions and the cooperation between them. Still, however, states retain a decisive role in cooperation within the field of foreign and security policy.

The aim of this paper is to explain how the European Union’s common strategy for theCommon Foreign- and Security Policy (CFSP) will change with the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon. A comparative case study and qualitative method is used. On the basis of Smith’s theory of institutionalization we will analyze two member states: France and Denmark. Our aim is to see which standpoints these countries have taken concerning the CFSP. We have chosen, in order to analyse the inner and outer factors, to use the liberal intergovernmental “two level game” theory as a theoretical approach. The purpose of the CFSP is to gradually increase the sovereign states’ foreign policy cooperation. The aim of the CFSP is to become an international visible and active player that represents the people of the European Union. At the moment the CFSP is an intergovernmental part of the EU, however there are presentiments that this will change and that CFSP will achieve supranationality. In conclusion, the results of the case study shows that Denmark is aiming for the CFSP cooperation to remain on an intergovernmental platform. France is aiming toward supranationality and a stronger cooperation within the CFSP. In time, with the full implementation of the CFSP, the EU will be able to compete on a global platform.

The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the role of the EU as a foreign and security policy actor in the post-9/11 international security environment. The thesis investigates the congruity between the role that the EU aspires to play as a foreign and security actor (role conception) and its actual foreign and security policy actions and decisions (role performance) in a specific case of the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP) in the post-9/11 era. The role conceptions of the EU are identified by analyzing the content of the general foreign policy speeches delivered by the principal EU foreign policy officials and the EU official documents concerning foreign and security policy of the EU. The congruity between EU&rsquo / s self-defined role conceptions and its actual role performance is tested in the case-study of the MEPP. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that although the EU encountered some constraints when performing some of its self-proclaimed roles, this moderately weakened its effectiveness and international credibility as a foreign and security policy actor in the post-9/11 era, all in all, as observed in the case of the MEPP, the decisions and actions carried out by the EU while enacting its self-identified roles outweighed its deficiencies in its role performance. Despite some inconsistency problems the EU has encountered while performing its self-identified roles, its overall balance sheet as a foreign and security policy actor in the post-9/11 era is fairly positive.

This Final Paper consists of analysis of NATO and EU role to Lithuanian security by identifying our days and future threats to Lithuanian security and identification of the future of the Lithuanian security policy. In the first part of this final paper was glanced through NATO and EU CFSP and DP history, highlighting problems of EU integration to Euroatlantic security. It can be assumed that more then half of continuing Cold War century NATO has assured the creation and the welfare of Eastern Europe. The collective defense remains further of one’s NATO functions, by that time EU is not responsible of European collective defense. EU stands just in crisis management. The NATO��s and EU’ intercourse problem maintains historical and national color. The second part was dedicated to analyze the evolution of Lithuanian membership in NATO, EU CFSP and DP. It was noticeable that Lithuanian NATO membership gives security to country against straight military invasion by discouraging potential threats. The EU membership gives economical sanctions to threat object just de facto i. m. after, for example, the invasion to Lithuania. But according to NATO and EU agreements, nations which belong to these organizations are allowed to choose the way of reaction so it’s might depend on relationship of each of them and Lithuania. The type and the spectrum of threats were identified in the last part and there was made an analysis which of them and in what time dimension might occur against... [to full text]

Since the end of the Cold War, Sweden’s security strategy has undergone radical changes. Due to recent years deteriorated security situation in Europe, the debate on Swedish NATO-membership has become more prominent. Previous research has mostly focused on the practical/military implications of the choice of security strategy whereas the knowledge about the political ideas and goals that are behind the choice of security strategy is largely unknow. Based on a qualitative approach, this thesis has studied how the Swedish foreign and security policy debate has changed between 1989–2018. Targeting the Social Democratic party, the Moderate Party, the Centre party and the Liberals, this thesis has described and analyzed these parties’ fundamental goals/values and world views from the perspectives of realism and liberalism. This study finds that there has been several changes both in world views and fundamental goals/values, where the earlier period in this study was more influenced by realism, to where liberalism started to become more prominent in the debate from the late 1990s until 2018, although realism has in some degree come back during recent years.

The thesis explores the use of the term European Strategic Autonomy in the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP) of the European Union. The security environment around Europe has become increasingly unstable in the last 15 years. The EU Commission has tried to take account of the deteriorating geopolitical landscape by publishing an EU Global Strategy document in 2016 to share its vision for a stronger Europe. The document calls for strategic autonomy without properly defining it. Since then, many policy papers have captured the term and used it as a popular buzzword. Because it has not been properly defined on the political level, European Strategy Autonomy (ESA) was subject to speculations and national interpretations which did not help to advance the debate. Based on an extensive literature review the paper provides a comprehensive understanding by giving an historic overview and presenting different configurations of ESA in the contemporary context. A comparative case study, including France, Germany, and the Czech Republic has been conducted to assess their interpretation of the notion. The result of the case studies showed inherently different perceptions underlaid by different motivations and identifies the political layer to be the biggest challenge for moving forward with the topic....

The aim of my work is to apply the political-geographical or geopolitical optics to a specific foreign security activities of the EU, i.e. to put political aims and activities of political-geographical framework. In geopolitical terms, it is necessary to assess the potential and the current deployment of civilian missions. For this purpose, in accordance with the hypothesis of my work, that the civilian aspects of crisis management CSDP are based mainly on the willingness and desire of Member States in a given area or country involved should be analyzed for the three major priorities of Member States (UK, Germany and France) in civilian areas (see National Security Strategy). The work compares the current activities of EU civil security-CSDP and geopolitical intentions of the three great European powers, Germany, France and Great Britain. Civilian CSDP should concentrate in geographic areas that are of key importance to most member states and especially for three large powers. The question is whether the major European powers reflect their priorities in EU policy in its entirety or whether there are other factors that prevent them from doing so. Such factors include decisions based on consensus and the growing power of the European Commission, which defends its interests very hard in the CSDP. Large Member...

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

La réunification ne transforma pas uniquement l’Allemagne sur le plan intérieur, mais eut également d’importantes répercussions sur sa place en Europe et dans le monde. Le nouveau contexte général ainsi que le changement générationnel au sein de la classe politique dans les années qui suivirent, entraînèrent aussi une évolution de l’autoreprésentation de la République fédérale. Tout cela ne resta pas sans conséquences sur sa perception à l’étranger. L’objectif de la présente thèse est d’analyser l’autoreprésentation de la jeune « République de Berlin » et sa réception en France de 1990 à nos jours. La question centrale est de savoir quelle image l’Etat allemand cherche à donner de lui-même et quelle image de l’Allemagne domine en France. Il s’agira de mettre en évidence les évolutions concrètes que l’on peut observer en la matière depuis la réunification, les facteurs permettant de les expliquer ainsi que de déterminer dans quelle mesure il existe une corrélation entre l’autoreprésentation de l’Allemagne et sa réception. / Reunification not only changed Germany domestically, but also had an important impact on its position in Europe and in the world. The new general framework as well as the generational change in politics in the following years also led to a change in the self-representation of the Federal Republic. All this did not remain without consequences on the perception of the country abroad. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the self-representation of the young “Berlin Republic” and its reception in France from 1990 to the present. The key question is which public image does the German state promote of itself and which image of Germany prevails in France. It will be highlighted how this has changed concretely since reunification, by which factors this development can be explained, and to what extent a correlation exists between Germany’s self-representation and its reception.

This dissertation scrutinises two related claims that were particularly heightened in 2009 as the European Union (EU) was celebrating the first tenth anniversary of its European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), the implementing arm of its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). First, the two policy frameworks allegedly embodied sufficient added value for bettering EU intervention for human protection purposes in third places. Second, the ESDP supposedly enabled the EU to make a difference in its response to two bloody wars that broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) successively in 1996 and 1998. This thesis argues that the alleged added value and difference have been overstated at best. While various studies have taken a similar position, they have important shortcomings for at least four reasons: lack of a comprehensive account of the CFSP motives, capacities, and response; exclusive focus on civil and military operations; focus on the post-Second Congo War period; and a lack of conceptual clarity regarding two key terms – ‘conflict resolution’ and ‘peacebuilding’. This thesis goes beyond generalisation and undertakes a forensic examination of the CFSP statements, decisions, and actions precisely through the lens of Conflict Resolution (CR): a specific subject area of study with its own normative, theoretical, and practical advantages and shortcomings; and with a more comprehensive and indeed seminal conceptualisation of peacebuilding. The outcome is a far more nuanced assessment of failure and success of the EU’s peace endeavours in this context than can be obtained through a broad-brush approach to analysis.