In this special issue, we examine whether there is a pattern in how small European states, inside and outside of the European Union (EU), adapt and adjust to EU foreign and security policy. We assess selected European small states' room for manoeuvre within these fields, and within EU institutional structures more broadly, as part of everyday diplomatic interactions in Brussels and in the context of the rotating EU presidency. As the European integration process enters a new phase, possibly marked by a trend of more differentiated integration and flexibility of individual attachments, small states will continue to face the choice between formal autonomy and integration, and between de facto hesitance and adaptability. With Brexit, the remaining large states may become more influential, but small states will collectively have a majority of the votes and total population. Perhaps the coming era of European integration will become the era of small states.
This article looks at the relationship between European integration and national foreign and security policy -specifically, how and to what extent the development of a European (EU) foreign and security policy leads to adaptation and change in national foreign and security policy. The theoretical point of departure is an interest in national changes in response to EU norms. It will be argued that national approaches tend to adapt to norms defined by an international community or institution to which they are closely linked; that this adaptation takes place over time, through a socialization process; and that it may also, in the end, lead to changes in national identity. This argument challenges the common assumption of international relations theory that national identities and/or interests are fixed and independent of structural factors like international norms and values. The empirical focus is on changes in French foreign and security policy since the early 1990s. How and to what extent has the dominant French national discourse on foreign and security policy changed since the early 1990s? And how are these changes related to the European integration process in general, and to the development of a European foreign and security dimension in particular?
In a time of global challenges, rising geopolitical tensions and a weakening of the traditional trans-Atlantic security community, we can expect pressures for Europe to play a more important role in the world. Various initiatives have been taken to strengthen the role of the European Union (EU), but there are also tendencies towards a more complex European governance structure in the making, characterized by a combination of both EU and non-EU (but still European) initiatives. This introductory article presents a framework for studying a European role that includes initiatives taken within and outside the EU framework, but closely interlinked, indicating that the concept of differentiated integration (DI) may help to clarify Europe’s role in a changing and volatile global context. Differentiated Integration, Disintegration, EU as a global actor, EU foreign security and defence policy
Reform processes in the countries of the EU's neighborhood have been characterized by complexity and ambiguous developments in recent years. Building on organization theory research on reforms as sets of loosely coupled 'garbage can' processes (Cohen, March and Olsen 1972), the article develops an analytical framework for studying the organization of EU capacities deployed in support of reform processes in the EU's neighbourhood. It conceptualizes the ENP as an organized framework connecting reform capacities of the EU institutions and EU member states' governments and analyze their interplay in three interconnected dimensions: 1) coherence in definitions of problems in reform strategies; 2) temporal ordering of reform actions; and 3) coherence of strategic visions of relations between the EU and a given ENP country. It applies this framework to the study of EU capabilities used in support of reforms in Ukraine in the post-Maidan period-a period of highly accelerated transformation processes in the Ukrainian society since the end of 2013. Based on recent data collected from study of official documents, governmental databases on development aid projects as well as interviews with diplomats and officials, we study activities of EU-level institutions such as the EEAS, selected member states-Germany and Sweden-and an associated EU state Norway. The findings illustrate that there are three broader patterns characterizing the EU's ENP in Ukraine, namely parallelism of reform strategies and priorities; path-dependence in reform actions; and ambiguity of grand strategic visions of relations with Ukraine.
This article aims to investigate the character of transatlantic security relations in Africa: How can it be characterized? Have they become weaker or stronger over the past decade? How can this development be explained? As NATO has not yet been heavily engaged on the African continent, it is prudent to study the relations between the EU and the US. Africa has been of concern to the EU (and its member states) for decades due to its geographical closeness and historic bonds. Since 2001, for both Europe and the US, Africa has become a region of increasing security concern due to the threat of international terrorism—for Europe, we can also add the migration concern. The European side of this relationship has also been largely dominated by France, making the transatlantic security cooperation in Africa essentially about French-American relations. As France has taken the lead regarding Europe’s security and defense engagement in Africa, increasingly with the support of other EU member states and associated non-members, this bilateral relationship is more than simply cooperation between two states. By applying a framework that understands EU security and defense policy as a process increasingly characterized as a differentiated and flexible integration under French leadership, the development of the Franco-US security relations in Africa must be understood as an expression of the transatlantic security relations in this region.
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