Master's Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1, University of Vienna, language: English, abstract: The title of this analysis is based on a book by Simon Duke dealing with the theoretical implications of a common European foreign policy in security and defense matters. The content of the book differs from the content of this paper and is not related to the questions posed in this research.1 Part II of this research gives a detailed overview of what security actually means in global politics and how key players understand it. General definitions and theory allows us to understand the major parts of this thesis (part III and IV). Part III describes different approaches to security in IR theory and explains it on the basis of European political integration. The historio-political analysis in this part shows the evolution of a CFSP and the ESDP. Institutionalization processes within the European Union explain the current status of the EU’s foreign policy, which is a status in process without having a clear and defined goal. This part includes the legal dimension of the EU’s foreign policy as well and describes the problematic situation Europeans currently have to face, namely disputes about the legal personality of the European Community and the European Union. Part IV is the second major part of the paper and deals with security challenges and the impact of the EU’s foreign policy on transatlantic relations and/or vice versa. This part has a closer look on the practical side of what the European Union is able and willing to do as a key player in the political, security and military domain in the world. It shows the relations between Europe and the United States and gives a segmentary analysis of Europe’s power in global politics... ...This research identifies the following specific hypotheses subordinated to the main hypotheses: 1.The European Union will become a global key player in the political and military domain, but will remain at the lower end of high politics for a while (ESDP police missions and military operations). 2.Transatlantic relations in the form of the Atlantic Alliance (or extended atlantic alliance) will remain of essential importance in order to achieve the EU’s foreign policy goals. 3.Cooperation in the military domain with the United States will remain the only way for Europe during the process of building up a European military.

Iraq can be considered the 'perfect storm' which brought out the stark differences between the US and Europe. The disagreement over the role of the United Nations continues and the bitterness in the United States against its betrayal by allies like France is not diminishing. Meanwhile, the standing of the United States among the European public has plummeted. Within Europe, political tensions between what US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld euphemistically called the 'Old' Europe and the 'New' Europe continue to divide. To fully comprehend these rifts, this volume takes a specific look at the core security priorities of each European state and whether these interests are best served through closer security collaboration with the US or with emerging European structures such as the European Rapid Reaction Force. It analyzes the contribution each state would make to transatlantic security, the role they envisage for existing security structures such as NATO, and the role the US would play in transatlantic security.

The European Union has always had a role in "soft security" by anchoring stability on the European continent through integration and enlargement. In recent years, it has moved to harness the military capacity of its member states through the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) to project stability in and around Europe —and perhaps beyond. There are conflicting views of the future of EDSP and its implications for transatlantic relations. On the one hand, ESDP and its related goals are, in part, the result of American pressures on Europeans to improve their military capabilities and share greater burdens with the Alliance. On the other hand, there is concern in some quarters in the United States about more autonomous European planning and decision-making.After the September 11 terrorist attacks, significant questions have arisen on both sides of the Atlantic about divergences in American and European strategic outlooks and the implications for European and transatlantic institutions. While some Americans are focused on further military transformation, many Europeans are advancing important changes on their own continent. The EU is central to those changes, but it faces choices about how to manifest its security vocation. This book examines how the evolution of the European Union's strategic presence is likely to affect transatlantic debates, and what it could mean for the EU's role as an actor in international security.

In this much-needed study of current strategic thinking on both sides of the Atlantic, a diverse collection of leading European and American analysts are assembled to tackle key questions that remain unanswered in the existing literature: how much do new security strategies signal convergence or divergence in US and EU foreign and security policy doctrine? what tangible political and policy impacts can be attributed to new security strategies? what are the implications for US and EU policies towards specific regions? what are the prospects for collective transatlantic action? The legacy of 9/11 is scrutinized against the backdrop of the strategic thinking that preceded it. In the 1990s, the US struggled to develop a new doctrine for American foreign policy, seeking at various times to promote a ‘New World Order’ or ‘democratic enlargement’. For its part, the EU had tried to underpin its new Common Foreign and Security Policy with a coherent set of ‘European values’ – multilateralism, human rights, environmental protection, and poverty reduction – that were best defended via collective European action. Key continuities and changes in these transatlantic efforts since 9/11 are clearly identified and closely examined.

The Elusive Quest for European Security provides a detailed overview of the various attempts to incorporate a security and defence role in the European integration process. Consideration is given to why these aspects of the integration process have proven so elusive and what progress has been made towards this goal. The assessment includes topics such as the enlargement of NATO, the EU's Amsterdam Treaty, and the role of the revived Western European Union, as well as the role of the main actors which includes Britain's bid for European leadership in defence, and the changing attitudes of administrations in Washington DC.

Long the main pillar holding up the transatlantic relationship, the security of Europe seems to have turned into an accessory element in the transatlantic security agenda. In recent years, the United States and European countries have often been unable to find enduring convergence over how to deal with issues related to Europe's security, such as NATO's role, relations with Russia and other former Soviet republics, and the European Union's ambition to develop an autonomous military arm. Concerns, however, about trends inexorably leading to the drifting apart of the transatlantic partners seem exaggerated. In fact, under the Obama administration, the United States and its European partners have found some new common ground. An effort to transform occasional convergences into a shared vision of Europe's long-term security would contribute considerably to re-energizing the Euro-Atlantic bond. Though not on the same scale as in the past, Europe's security can still be a significant component of the transatlantic relationship. Proceedings of the third edition of the Transatlantic Security Symposium, jointly organized by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and the Bologna Center of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and held in Rome, 8 November 2010.

Long the main pillar holding up the transatlantic relationship, the security of Europe seems to have turned into an accessory element in the transatlantic security agenda. In recent years, the United States and European countries have often been unable to find enduring convergence over how to deal with issues related to Europe's security, such as NATO's role, relations with Russia and other former Soviet republics, and the European Union's ambition to develop an autonomous military arm. Concerns, however, about trends inexorably leading to the drifting apart of the transatlantic partners seem exaggerated. In fact, under the Obama administration, the United States and its European partners have found some new common ground. An effort to transform occasional convergences into a shared vision of Europe's long-term security would contribute considerably to re-energizing the Euro-Atlantic bond. Though not on the same scale as in the past, Europe's security can still be a significant component of the transatlantic relationship.