Publications
Proposals to Improve the EU’s Engagement in Conflict Resolution, Prevention and Mediation
This working paper provides policy recommendations for enhancing the European Union and its Member States' engagement in conflict resolution, prevention, and mediation, aiming for greater effectiveness, coherence, and sustainability. It emphasizes the need for coherence and synergies between community-based policies and intergovernmental CFSP and CSDP instruments. Key insights include the importance of foresight, addressing nexus issues like environment, development, and gender, and considering external factors and major powers' roles in crisis situations. The paper identifies four clusters of challenges, offering recommendations to address fragmented discourse, improve coordination, leverage comparative advantages, and proactively respond to geopolitical shifts. The document concludes by proposing assessment criteria for evaluating EU engagement in conflict management.
Formulating Proposals for a More Effective Engagement with Neighbourhood Regions
This working paper, stemming from ENGAGE Work Package 8, explores the EU's engagement with neighboring countries within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Despite the ENP's technocratic approach since its launch in 2003, its separate standing from the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy has hindered its effectiveness. A lack of consensus among Member States on ENP goals, especially in security matters, and the EU's failure to evolve into a robust security actor have led to disillusionment. The paper suggests the EU must align actions with its narrative or reconsider geopolitical ambitions to bridge this gap.
Assessing the European Union's External Action Towards Its Strategic Partners and Formulating Policy Recommendations
This working paper examines the effectiveness of the EU’s strategic partnerships as a foreign policy tool aimed at promoting a multilateral, rules-based world order. It assesses the EU’s engagement with partners against the backdrop of mounting global rivalries and instability, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. The paper underscores the evolving nature of the EU’s strategic partnerships and, in light of today’s challenges, calls for/recommends a review of existing agreements and the harmonization of Member State and EU positions.
The EU’s Approach to Nexus Issues in Conflict Prevention, Mediation and Resolution: Climate, Development and Gender
This working paper assesses the European Union's strategies in addressing conflict prevention, mediation and resolution in Guatemala, Serbia, and the Arctic. In Guatemala, the EU emphasizes integrating gender perspectives into peacebuilding efforts but encounters uncertainties in applying these principles to indigenous and rural communities. In Serbia, EU funding for aligned development projects faces hurdles due to Serbia's financial limitations and administrative capacity. As for the Arctic, the EU grapples with environmental fragility and geopolitical complexities while demonstrating a commitment to bolstering its presence despite historical disputes.
Case Study Analysis of Conflicts and Crises in the EU’s Neighbourhoods
This paper examines the EU's selective crisis engagement in its neighborhood. Analyzing the Israel-Palestine and Armenia-Azerbaijan protracted conflicts, and the more recent and cascading (crisis-to-war) conflicts in Libya and Ukraine, it uncovers patterns driven by proximity, severity, and salience. While noting challenges, the paper finds a positive exception in Ukraine's case, signaling a potential shift in the EU's crisis response dynamics, especially in the context of Russia's escalating war.
Case Studies of EU and Member State Engagement with Strategic International Organisations
This working paper assesses the European Union's ability to implement integrated external action in conflict resolution, prevention, and mediation through three case studies of its strategic partnerships with international organizations in addressing crises. It examines the EU's effectiveness and its capacity to act coherently and autonomously in these scenarios, shedding light on the dynamic nature of such partnerships and the importance of adaptability for successful cooperation.
Case Studies of the EU’s Actions in the Field of Conflict Resolution, Prevention and Mediation
This paper assesses the European Union's ability to implement integrated external action in conflict prevention, mediation and resolution. By examining EU involvement in four different crisis theatres, it evaluates the EU's performance in terms of perceptions by other parties and its capacity to act coherently and autonomously.
Mapping Changing Intra-EU and External Opportunity Structures and Their Impact on Past EU Neighbourhood Policies
This paper provides a comprehensive, detailed and systematic mapping of the changing intra-EU and external opportunity structures since the launch of the European Neighbourhood Policy. It argues that the complex and shifting regional dynamics expose the inherent limits of the undifferentiated, uniform institutional design of the neighbourhood policy.
Case Studies of EU and Member States’ Engagement with Global Strategic Partner Countries
This working paper delivers a comprehensive examination of the European Union's strategic partnerships with Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and Turkey. By zooming in on critical policy areas of each relationship and the role of EU Member States therein, the paper sheds light on the horizontal and vertical coherence of the EU’s external action.
Assessing the Current Structures and Processes of External Action Plus and Formulating Recommendations
The European Union's "external action plus" is an assortment of policy areas with varying legal competences that may be linked and interact in ways that enable more effective, coherent and sustainable external action. This paper explores the policy linkages and how they can best be coordinated in support of EU external engagement in crisis as well as non-crisis situations.
Assessing Current CFSP Structures and Processes and Formulating Recommendations
The rules and procedures of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy often seem to stand in the way of effective external action. Alongside a more general reform of decision-making processes, this paper recommends a gradual shift to Qualified Majority Voting and a further investment into improved intelligence sharing.
Assessing Current CSDP Structures and Processes and Formulating Recommendations
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, specifically with regard to its legal basis, governance structures, operational deployments and capability development. To make defence cooperation among Member States more effective, coherent and sustainable, this working paper advances a set of recommendations.
Case Studies of Traditionally Internal Policy Areas with Outward Effects: Competition, Climate Change and Health
The EU’s external action also includes internal policies with external dimensions. Harnessing these non-traditional foreign policy tools can help the EU become a stronger global actor. In order to identify how the EU can meet its strategic challenges more holistically, effectively and sustainably, this paper studies the cases of competition, climate change as well as health and examines their linkages to other, more traditional external action policies.
Case Studies of the EU’s CFSP Activity
Regional and geopolitical challenges, especially Russia's war against Ukraine, have once again drawn attention to the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as well as the effectiveness of its instruments. To derive policy implications, this working paper assesses the effectiveness, coherence and sustainability of CFSP actions through geographical and thematic case studies, and an analysis of the relevant decision-making procedures.
Case Studies of the EU’s CSDP Activity
Civilian and military missions and operations represent one of the main activities of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Through selected case studies, this paper evaluates the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and sustainability of the EU's CSDP activities, revealing differences among the deployments, while identifying common obstacles. By analysing these lessons learnt, recommendations for improving the effectiveness and sustainability of EU external action are presented.
Experiences of Joined-Up Security, Defence and Intelligence Policies: Drawing Lessons from Multi-Layer Governance Systems
Looking at three case studies, this working paper examines how non-EU countries with complex governance structures coordinate their joined-up policies in the areas of security, intelligence and defence. Focusing on migration management in Brazil and Turkey as well as artificial intelligence in the United States, each example highlights country-specific policy challenges and the strategies used to address them. The lessons learned show that inter-agency coherence problems are not unique to the EU and that policy recommendations should consider innovative solutions.
Case Studies of Trade, Development and Humanitarian Action
This paper develops an analytical framework to explore the internal and external factors that facilitate or obstruct linkages among external action plus policies and how these linkages contribute to EU external action. The results of the empirical work show considerable variation across the three policy areas of trade, development aid and humanitarian aid and the factors that matter for issue linkage. Overall, the contribution reveals important issue linkage dynamics that shape policymaking and serves as a platform for future research and policy recommendations on external action plus.
Analysing Political Acceptability of Reforms Among National Policymakers
This paper explores the perceptions and preferences of Member States (MS) with regard to EU foreign and security policy sheds light on various MS’ positions regarding a range of reforms and underused mechanisms by assessing levels of acceptability among national policymaking elites. The paper’s data reveals a divide among MS on the acceptability of various reforms but shows that some room for negotiation exists.
Securitisation of the Neighbourhood: EU-Driven Frame Alignment and Projection on Southern and Eastern Neighbourhood Partner Countries
This paper scrutinises the EU-driven strategic framings of “neighbours” and “neighbourhood” through a critical and thorough investigation of the European Neighbourhood Policy’s (ENP) documents and related official EU texts. The paper identifies that increased securitisation of the ENP has taken place between 2003 and 2022, alongside and increasing diversification and overlap across different policy fields within the ENP.
The EU’s Engagement in Conflict Resolution, Prevention and Mediation: A Framework
This working paper advances an analytical framework to study the European Union’s engagement in interconnected areas of conflict prevention, mediation and resolution. It argues that the EU’s actions in these fields are inherently overlapping but not always complementary. It further suggests that coordination of the Union’s actions with external partners before, during and after intervention in a conflict or crisis scenario is of crucial importance, and that early warning systems and foresight should be even further embedded in distinct EU institutions and policies of conflict management and prevention.