In the 1990s, the member states of the European Union (EU) paved the way for the EU to play a bigger role in foreign relations. In the Treaty of Maastricht they established the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and added a security and defence dimension at the end of the decade. Today, the CFSP is one of the favorite subjects of researchers in the fields of European Union Studies, Foreign Policy Analysis and Peace Research. Researchers at universities and think tanks publish a multitude of analyses dealing with the institutional framework of CFSP, the question of the EU’s foreign policy actorness and its missions and operations. Inter alia, these studies include assessments of completed and on-going missions of the EU and draw conclusions that could improve the planning and implementation of future operations. However, it is rather unclear if foreign policy actors in the EU pay attention to these assessments, ideas and hints. Therefore, the paper discusses which links exist between research on CFSP and the practice in the EU foreign policy framework. It investigates in how far a transfer of knowledge exists and which research attracts the attention of EU foreign policy actors.
