Final Report Summary - EUCONRES (A European Approach to Conflict Resolution? Institutional Learning and the ESDP)
To what extent can international institutions learn? What factors determine whether such institutions develop capacities for self-awareness and independent institutional change? This project investigates these questions in the context of the European Union (EU). Specifically, it examines the dramatic expansion in security missions led by the EU since 2003, a capacity that many observers doubted was even possible for the EU. To explain this change in institutional behaviour, the project develops a theory of institutional learning to analyze the EU’s instigation and implementation of over 20 security operations in various regions under the auspices of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP; now known as the “Common Security and Defence Policy”). In addition, with these missions the EU has attempted to innovate in security affairs, using a unique civilian crisis management capacity linked to security sector reform and other EU policy tools; this system is known as the 'comprehensive approach' in EU foreign/security policy. The project also examines two major obstacles regarding institutional learning and foreign policy. The first involves bureaucratic rivalries among EU organizations with similar or overlapping functions (such as the Commission and the EU Military Staff); the second is the major organizational restructuring (including the creation of the European External Action Service) under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty in 2010. Both of these factors, among other more parochial concerns, have undermined institutional learning in this realm. These ongoing changes demand further examination in light of not only the growing ambitions of the EU itself but also in terms of the increasing demands for security assistance placed on other international organizations, such as the UN, NATO, and the OSCE. And by generalizing the findings to other EU policy domains and, potentially, other international organizations at the regional and global levels, the project could have major implications for global governance.
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* Please, notice that this summary may be published