This Master thesis aims to study how the EU’s strategic culture shapes the EU as a security actor in the Sahel. A region stricken with poverty and conflict with no end in sight in which the EU and European states are deeply involved. The Master thesis considers the EU’s interests in the Sahel, such as the security of Europe and economic development, as well as the interests of national states as France, The United States of America, and China. Analyzing these interests through neorealism and social constructivism provide insights to the relationship between EU’s strategic culture and its actions in the Sahel. The theoretical framework used to study the problem consists of Snyder’s theory of Strategic culture together with political neorealism and social constructivism. By using a qualitative case study design with text analysis, I study different sources consisting of official policy documents, official statements, news reports, and previous research. The results show that the protection of the EU homeland calls for external security actions which drives the EU’s strategy for Sahel. By stabilizing the region, the EU can better control irregular migration flows and hinder future jihadist attacks in Europe. France and the US have put pressure on increasing the EU’s military and strategic policy focus, slowly shifting the EU strategic culture from a value-based humanitarian actor to a more utility-based and policy driven security actor. The EU is taking a more supportive role as a security actor by increasingly pushing good governances’ reforms in the Sahelian authorities. These aim to enable local actors to take charge of the security operations in the Sahel as well as combating the root causes of this decade long conflict.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-177260 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Nilsson, Robin |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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