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Begin New Search Topic Foreign Policy Political Geography Europe Content Type Working Paper Publishing Institution European Union Institute for Security Studies

1. How EU sanctions work: a new narrative

Author:
Francesco Giumelli
Publication Date:
05-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The European Union has devoted growing attention to sanctions since the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty.1 In total, the Council has imposed Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) sanctions targeting countries, economic sectors, groups, individuals and entities on 27 different occasions. The novelty in the area of sanctions is that targets are not only states, as in the recent cases of Iran and Syria, but they are also individuals and non-state entities, e.g. anti-terrorist lists, President Robert Mugabe and his associates, and several companies connected with the military junta in Burma/Myanmar. Additionally, the contexts in which sanctions are utilised can be diverse, ranging from the protection of human rights to crisis management and non-proliferation. Despite the fact that the effectiveness of sanctions has been much debated, the EU has developed a sanctioning policy and intensified its adoption of sanctions. Sanctions were traditionally seen as a way to impose economic penalties as a means of extracting political concessions from targets, but EU sanctions do not always impose a cost nor do they always seek to induce behavioural change. To this extent, a new narrative may be needed.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Economics, Human Rights, International Cooperation, International Law, and Sanctions
Political Geography:
Europe, Burma, and Myanmar

2. The EU and China's engagement in Africa: the dilemma of socialisation

Author:
Liu Lirong
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
China's engagement in Africa has obliged the EU to re-evaluate its own relationship with Africa. Since 2008, in an attempt to resolve the conflicts of norms and interests, the EU has proposed establishing a trilateral dialogue and cooperation mechanism between the EU, China and Africa, which so far has not yielded any substantial results. The differences between China's and the EU's Africa policies are mainly visible in two areas: aid and security. The contradiction between their respective aid policies lies in China's 'no-strings-attached aid' versus European 'conditionality' or emphasis on 'fundamental principles'. The contradiction between their security approaches in Africa lies in China's non-interference policy and the European concept of human security. Promoting common normative values and principles is at the core of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), which is important for the EU's self-construction at present. China's non-interference policy is related to its domestic security and stability and in this context it engages in its own rhetoric. In matters of principle it is difficult for both sides to make compromises or accept limitations imposed by the other.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Europe

3. Human rights challenges in EU civilian crisis management

Author:
Wanda Troszczynska-van Genderen
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Over the years, human rights have become an area of programmatic focus in the crisis management operations conducted by the EU. Nevertheless, the geopolitical reality after the launch of the so-called 'war on terror' witnessed the emergence of new practical impediments to human rights implementation in civilian crisis response operations. The militarisation of the humanitarian space and blurred boundaries between military and civilian tasks resulted in the increased vulnerability of civilians working in ground operations. Simultaneously, the scale of human rights violations, coupled with security threats to civilians due to both attacks by insurgents and interventions carried out by international military personnel, created operational challenges going well beyond what previous Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian crisis management operations had to deal with.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Human Rights, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Europe

4. From Copenhagen to Brussels European defence: core documents, Volume IV

Author:
Antonio Missiroli
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
With the present issue, the 'European defence core documents' annual collection reaches its fourth volume – stretching from Copenhagen, where the last European Council of 2002 was held, to Brussels, where the last one of 2003 took place. In actual fact, the Thessaloniki European Council of June 2003 was the last one to be hosted by the country holding the rotational EU presidency. From now on, all European Councils will take place in Brussels – thus crucially depriving this collection of a distinctive title for each issue.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe

5. The United States: The Empire of Force or the Force of Empire?

Author:
Pierre Hassner
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
There is no society or policy that does not have its contradictions, but some have more than others, and that is certainly true of the United States. Raymond Aron evoked a classic paradox in giving his book on the United States the title The Imperial Republic. That paradox has two aspects. Firstly, are the republic's institutions (which are designed to guarantee citizens' rights and a separation of powers) suited to the running of an empire, or are they prejudicial to the decision-making ability and continuity that that implies? Conversely, does not the expenditure on empire, in terms of resources and time, and in particular the methods used to acquire and preserve it, affect the economic, political and moral health of the republican homeland? These dilemmas are made even more acute since, on the one hand, this is not a classic empire, like that of Rome, but rather a bourgeois, individualist one based on the acquisition of wealth rather than the winning of wars and, on the other hand, this is the first truly world-wide empire and has appeared at a moment when the threats facing humankind raise key questions on the interests of the international system and the planet itself, over and above those of the 'hyperpower'.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

6. Enlargement and European Defence After 11 September

Author:
Pal Dunay, Jiri Sedivy, and Jacek Saryusz-Wolski
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
The jury is still out on the extent to which 11 September has changed the concept – let alone the perception – of security. All the more so for European security at large, whose contours are still quite blurred. As for the European Union proper, 11 September has triggered a prompt response in the field of internal security, while the military reaction has been either channelled through NATO and the UN or managed individually (and bilaterally with the United States) by both member and applicant states. More indirectly, 11 September has increased the pressure towards enlargement by pushing for a faster and broader accession of the current candidates in order to further stabilise the Union's immediate neighbourhood: a quintessential case of security policy by other means, one is tempted to say, in line with a long tradition in the European integration process. Moreover, for similar reasons, the Atlantic Alliance, too, is likely to enlarge more quickly and more extensively than previously envisaged. Key decisions in those directions are to be taken in Prague (NATO) and Copenhagen (EU) later this year. For the Union, anyway, the endgame has already started. With it, the enlargement process will have come almost full circle: 'from Copenhagen to Copenhagen', so to speak, in just under ten years.
Topic:
Security and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and United Nations

7. Terms of Engagement

Author:
Julian Lindley-French
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
Sir Lew Grade comes from a long tradition of failed British film producers. In 1980 he produced a film that bankrupted him. Entitled Raise the Titanic, the film was a box office flop of appropriately Titanic proportions. When asked about his risky investment, he said that on reflection it would have been cheaper and easier to lower the Atlantic than raise the Titanic. Observers of transatlantic security relations could be forgiven for feeling pretty much the same about the state of American-European relations as the shock of 11 September is replaced by the search for coordinated policy. Not only do Americans and Europeans disagree about the means of international relations; they seem increasingly to bicker about the ends.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
America and Europe

8. From Nice to Laeken, European Defence: Core Documents

Author:
Maartje Rutten
Publication Date:
04-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
This Chaillot Paper is the second in our series of core documents on European security and defence. Unlike the first volume, which covered the whole period from St-Malo to Nice (December 1998 - December 2001), this volume and subsequent ones will recapitulate developments in European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) during the preceding year. As the whole world of defence and thus Europe and the ESDP were profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001, we have divided this Chaillot Paper into two parts. The first comprises documents on the further development and implementation of the ESDP. The second part contains those documents illustrating the EU's response to the terrorist attacks that we consider most relevant to the goal of this paper.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe