Europe in the World: Balancing Between Positive Peace and Geopolitics. Towards New Normativities

Abstract

After the adoption of the EU Global Strategy 2016, the EU was increasingly concerned with actorness, exerting agency and speaking with a common voice in the world. However, amid a context of genuine multipolarity, crises, and great power competition, the EU was soon faced with an important normative double dilemma: at external level, that of balancing between democratic external security governance (‘positive peace’) and geopolitics, at internal level, that of geopolitical justification of European integration. To examine this dilemma, this Panel first examines at civil-military equilibrium in military operations in conflict zones, by evaluating the governments engagement in Afghanistan during and after the ISAF mission. Second, it proposes a joined-up approach of EU external action, by applying an analytical framework at the intersection between (diplomatic) foreign policy and sectoral cooperation and EU-Swiss relations as a case study. Third, based on the EU engagement in Mali and the Sahel, an interdisciplinary approach is proposed that focuses on the contradiction and the paradox of the absence of a real European security strategy. The Panel closes with a discussion on the EU strategy of democracy promotion and resilience-building in areas of limited statehood in the near and far neighborhoods.

Title	Details
Failure, Farrago or Fiasco? Reviewing the European Neighbourhood Policy	View Paper Details
The EU and the Temptation to Become a Civilizational State	View Paper Details
The EU External Action: Towards a Joined-Up Approach? The Case of EU-Swiss Relations	View Paper Details
“As Civilian as Possible, as Military as Necessary” – How Governments Evaluate Their Engagement in Afghanistan During and After the ISAF Mission.	View Paper Details