Recently, European countries have been confronted with a whole variety of challenges to (inter-)national security, with Russia’s expansionist policy towards Ukraine, the ever-growing issue of cyber-threats, and the rise of ISIL being only the most salient proponents. Concurrently, most European NATO members have significantly reduced their defense budgets, either splashing out on their people the so-called "Peace Dividend" or introducing defense cuts as part of austerity measures. In this paper, the implications of this tension between growing threats and shrinking resources will be analyzed by asking: Does “defense austerity” endanger Western security or does it lead to a more cost-efficient way of meeting challenges? This will be done by drawing attention to the influence of "defense austerity" on the Western interventions in Libya, Mali, and against ISIL. Additionally, the strained relationship between the challenges created by the possible emergence of a “Cold War 2.0” and “Defense Austerity” will be addressed.
