European security as practice: EU–NATO communities of practice in the making?

Abstract

European security is at a critical juncture and many have called for a more coherent and efficient response, involving both the EU and NATO. However, the primary tool for EU-NATO cooperation, "Berlin Plus", has been stuck in a political quagmire since the mid2000s, making a lot of scholars to conclude that this cooperation is obsolete and outdated. This article is challenging this view by analysing a range of informal but regular interaction patterns that have emerged. Using practice theory, it sheds new light on and explores how EU and NATO staff at all levels engage in informal practices on various sites in headquarters in Brussels and in field operations. A study of EU-NATO cooperation as practice focuses on the everyday, patterned production of security as well as what makes action possible, such as (tacit) practical knowledge and shared "background" knowledge (education, training, and experience). The article also discusses the extent to which shared repertoires of practice may evolve into loose communities of practice that cut across organisational and professional boundaries. ARTICLE HISTORY

Keep Calm and Carry On (Differently): NATO and CSDP after Brexit

“…This does not mean mere rivalry between the EU and NATO – even if sometimes, like the experiences in Chad and Congo suggest, they seem to compete in some kind of ‘beauty contest’ (Varwick and Koops, , p. 125). On the contrary, informal cooperation has been taking place at various levels, ranging from officers on the ground to individuals in high‐rank positions (Gebhard and Smith, ; Graeger, ; Smith, ; Smith et al, ).…”

“…Yet, other scholars such as Graeger (, ) have zoomed out from high politics with the purpose of focusing on the practical and inarticulate social interactions, which embody the organisations under investigation. This approach has a lot of value as it allows us to appreciate how EU and NATO officials work together on a daily basis transcending fundamental disagreements.…”

Doing Europe: agency and the European Union in the field of counter-piracy practice

“…Much philosophical ink has been spilled on how to define these elements and their relations. Various conceptual apparatuses have been worked out -of which perhaps Bourdieusan praxeology, Wenger's communities of practice approach, and Actor-Network Theory are the most well known (see Bicchi 2016, Bremberg 2016, Graeger 2016, for examples drawing on the community of practice approach). This has led to a quite heterogeneous family of practice theories (Bueger and Gadinger 2014).…”

The Single European Sky: a window of opportunity for EU–NATO relations

“…EU-NATO cooperation, despite formal political agreements such as the Berlin Plus arrangement, has been difficult to realise (Ojanen 2006, Duke 2008, Smith 2011, Mayer 2011, Graeger and Haugevik 2011, Gebhard and Smith 2015, Graeger 2016. Nevertheless, new EU-NATO informal cooperation practices arise on a regular basis in ATM.…”