Understanding the Learning Gap in Civilian CSDP

Since the launch of the first European Union civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission in 2003, a wealth of practice-based research recommendations has been made, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of the CSDP instrument. Many of these recommendations revolve around similar issues, such as improving the planning, staffing, and leadership of missions. Yet, many of these proposals remain unimplemented in the governance and conduct of civilian CSDP. Formal lesson-learning processes exist but often fail to close the loop from lesson identification to implementation. Instead, improvements tend to be limited to incremental adjustments or "knowledge creep"— the gradual diffusion of ideas without immediate policy change. To avoid political contention, EU actors focus on easily achievable changes, neglecting deeper reforms and learning from failures, or even recognizing them. This paper asks why evidence-based insights fail to translate into policy, investigating the causes of this "learning gap" between knowledge and action. Decoding the barriers to implementing improvement inputs is necessary to reach more impactful and effective civilian CSDP missions, a development consistently raised as a priority by many EU Member States. The study draws on interviews with mission personnel and policymakers, as well as analysis of recommendations made by research, to examine how institutional, political, and organizational factors impede the uptake of evidence in decision-making.