Exploring the boundaries of security communities: CSDP and Morocco

What role does the EU play in security community-building beyond its borders in the post-Cold War era? Constructivist scholars in international relations (IR) have pointed to the role that international organizations (IOs) play as transnational sites of socialization and learning which might help to re-shape actors’ identities and interests, also in the field of security (Adler 1997). A case in point is NATO’s post-Cold War eastward expansion which can be seen as a process of transposing the norms and values of the transatlantic security community to the new members in Central and Eastern Europe (Adler 2008). The EU is another highly interesting case of the role that IOs play in the field of international security, particularly the development of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) since 1999 (Howorth 2007). Recently, several works inspired by constructivism have made important contributions to the study of CSDP seen as the emergence of an increasingly distinctive European ‘strategic culture’ centered upon the EU institutions and social practices among diplomats and militaries (Meyer 2006, Giegerich 2006, Mérand 2010). The basic argument is that the role of the EU is not necessarily that of fostering the creation of a ‘European army’ based on the notion of territorial defence, but rather to provide the institutional venues in which norms and ideas on the use of force in international crisis management are being shaped among diplomats and militaries from EU member states. These norms are embodied in the European Security Strategy and in the policy guidelines for the CSDP military and civilian operations that the EU has conducted since 2003. However, these recent works have typically not paid much attention to the relationship between the EU and non-members in the development of CSDP (with the notable exception of the U.S. and EU-NATO relations). This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the EU and Morocco in the field of CSDP with the aim to contribute to the study of the role of IOs in international security. Although not a major military power, Morocco is a very interesting case since it is the only African and Muslim country that has ever participated in a EU military operation (EUFOR Althea in Bosnia) and it has recently adopted its ‘advanced status’ with the EU which also covers political and security cooperation. The paper departs from the notion of security communities in IR as communities of practice and draws mainly upon interviews with practitioners conducted in Brussels, Rabat and Madrid.