Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    The Pursuit of Justice Through EU Security Strategies: Sisyphus Redux?
    (GLOBUS Research, 2018-02) ;
    The EU has developed its role in global affairs through several treaty revisions, institutional developments, political statements and official strategic documents. The strategic documents and political statements embody both the EU's more particular short-term interests and concerns, as well as its more universal and long-term normative aspirations or "milieu goals". How the EU has sought to balance these and to project them globally through its formal strategy statements in the realm of security is the core research question of this paper. Furthermore, this paper assesses these attempts as part of a greater endeavour of the GLOBUS project to conceptualise global justice and the Union's role therein. The EU is a (self-)proclaimed normative power that is seen in some quarters as promoting universal values and global justice. However, what is "just" as this article will discuss, is contested even when it is (rarely) defined. The article will therefore review three related but distinct concepts of global justice and highlight the outlying indicators of these ideal types of justice. Based on these, the article develops hypotheses on the EU's role in the pursuit of global justice and tests these against the EU's dis-courses embodied in the three main strategic documents: "A Secure Europe in a Better World European Security Strategy" (European Council 2003), "Report on the Implementation of the European Security Strategy - Providing Security in a Changing World" (European Council 2008) and "Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe - A Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign And Security Policy" (EEAS 2016).
      304
  • Publication
    Brexit and Irish Security and Defence
    (University College Dublin. School of Politics and International Relations, 2019-03)
    Brexit poses fundamental challenges to the Irish state across the public policy spectrum but critically in the area of security and defence. Traditionally, Irish security and defence policy was driven by three interconnected policy goals; territorial defence, aid to the civil power and international security operations. The prospect of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has placed each of these three security and defence roles into a new context and poses a substantial existential challenge to the Irish state. Each will be reviewed in turn; the impact of Brexit on Irish security and defence policy, the capacity and role of the defence forces, and Ireland’s engagement in EU security and defence – including the prospect of a ‘common defence’. We argue that these three concerns lie at the heart of national existential interests; the survival of the peace process and security on this Island.
      362
  • Publication
    Resilience and the EU's Global Strategy: The Potential Promise of Justice
    (University of Oslo. ARENA Centre for European Studies, 2020-02)
    The appearance of ‘resilience’ as a core concept within the EU Global Strategy (EUGS) is a significant focus of scholarly interest while for their part, EU institutions are anxious to put flesh on the bones of that strategy. The aim of this paper is to suggest that far from representing a collapse of European ambition or indeed a ‘middle ground’ position between liberal ambition and realist pragmatism, resilience potentially entails a profound re-engineering of EU foreign policy, serving the cause of an overarching concept of global justice. Such an approach is grounded in reciprocal and accountable relationships in search of ‘fair terms of social cooperation’. It also implies the creation of institutional decision-making and adjudicating fora which are profoundly deliberative in their orientation. This paper will argue that 'resilience' has therefore the potential to be a transformative concept in the design and pursuit of EU foreign policy. It also faces significant challenges, not least where there is profound disagreement or stark choices to be made over foundational principles. Resilience nonetheless opens pathways to perhaps a different kind of EU foreign policy, offering significant added-value to EU member states’ diplomacy.
      80
  • Publication
    The Future of EU-UK Security and Defence Cooperation
    (Dublin City University. Brexit Institute, 2020-06-14)
    The UK’s departure from the European Union poses many challenges, not least in the field of security and defence. This paper assesses the implications of this for both parties and tries to outline options for a new bilateral partnership. The paper opens with a reminder of the headline contribution that the UK has made and continues to make to European security and defence and its significance as an actor within the Union. It goes on to suggest that Brexit is a lose-lose scenario for both partners, notwithstanding a shared set of security threats and an overall common approach to meeting them. The paper outlines the significant advances in the development of CSDP since the Brexit referendum result and the importance of the Commission’s proposal of new funding to the development of EU member state defence capacities. The paper then reviews options, which have surfaced in the EU and UK respectively to define a new bilateral partnership. The challenges to involving a third-country in EU policy development and execution are examined and the urgent need for the Union and the UK to devise a new – necessarily weaker – relationship is underlined.
      106
  • Publication
    The (In)Justices of Peacekeeping EUFOR Tchad/RCA
    (GLOBUS Research, 2018-02)
    The goal of this paper is to assess conceptions of justice in the European Union's (EU) military mission (EUFOR Tchad/RCA). In January 2008 the EU launched this 'bridging' military operation in Chad in accordance with the mandate set out in UNSCR 1778 (2007) and alongside the installation of the United Nation's own MINURCAT mission. EUFOR Tchad/RCA's 12 month mission came within the framework of the Union's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The paper will assess the mission's intent and execution in the light of distinct models of global justice and will offer conclusions as to its relative success, most especially in the eyes of local stakeholders.
      436