Periodic Reporting for period 1 - JOINT (Understanding and Strengthening EU Foreign and Security Policy in a Complex and Contested World)
Reporting period: 2021-03-01 to 2022-02-28
The JOINT project addresses the question of how to make EU foreign and security policy (EUFSP) more joined-up and sustainable in a rapidly changing and contested international environment. The project assumes the domestic and international context of EUFSP to be characterised by three ‘constraining’ factors: intra-EU fractious domestic debates (internal contestation), the severe weakening of state authority and regional rules of engagement in the EU’s neighbourhood (regional fragmentation) and the growing assertiveness of regional and global powers (multipolar competition). These constraints affect the ability of the EU and its member states to build consensus on objectives, generate capabilities and proactively engage with external players. The exact nature of this impact varies considerably across individual cases. These variations are observable, in particular, in the management by the EU and its member states of conflicts and crises.
JOINT’s objectives fall into three categories:
1. Research objectives
a. Analyse how the interplay between internal contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition affects the ability of the EU and its member states to set common objectives and generate and integrate capabilities to handle conflicts, crises and relations with external players.
b. Detect the unexploited potential for more effective EU foreign, security and defence policy cooperation in several crisis/conflict cases in Europe’s neighbourhood and beyond.
c. Survey public perceptions of foreign and security policy challenges and the expected role of the EU in facing these challenges.
2. Policy-relevant objectives
a. Elaborate assessment criteria with regard to how the EU and its member states can a) create synergies between their respective objectives, b) integrate foreign policy instruments across policy domains, and c) coordinate different formats of engagement with external players to deal with crises and conflicts.
b. Assess the political acceptability of greater EU foreign, security and defence policy cooperation.
c. Differentiate proposals for improving intra-EU cooperation according to three patters of evolution of EUFSP governance structures, namely whether a) they become more fragmented, b) are partially adjusted, or c) undergo an institutional overhaul.
3. Network-relevant objectives
a. Strengthen the European epistemic community focusing on EUFSP.
b. Expose non-EU researchers to intra-EU debates about EUFSP.
c. Create regular and sustained interaction between research and policymaking communities.
JOINT’s objectives fall into three categories:
1. Research objectives
a. Analyse how the interplay between internal contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition affects the ability of the EU and its member states to set common objectives and generate and integrate capabilities to handle conflicts, crises and relations with external players.
b. Detect the unexploited potential for more effective EU foreign, security and defence policy cooperation in several crisis/conflict cases in Europe’s neighbourhood and beyond.
c. Survey public perceptions of foreign and security policy challenges and the expected role of the EU in facing these challenges.
2. Policy-relevant objectives
a. Elaborate assessment criteria with regard to how the EU and its member states can a) create synergies between their respective objectives, b) integrate foreign policy instruments across policy domains, and c) coordinate different formats of engagement with external players to deal with crises and conflicts.
b. Assess the political acceptability of greater EU foreign, security and defence policy cooperation.
c. Differentiate proposals for improving intra-EU cooperation according to three patters of evolution of EUFSP governance structures, namely whether a) they become more fragmented, b) are partially adjusted, or c) undergo an institutional overhaul.
3. Network-relevant objectives
a. Strengthen the European epistemic community focusing on EUFSP.
b. Expose non-EU researchers to intra-EU debates about EUFSP.
c. Create regular and sustained interaction between research and policymaking communities.
During the first reporting period, JOINT worked on objectives 1 and 3, while objectives 2 will be addressed in the second reporting period. The points below summarise progress in achieving JOINT’s objectives in Year 1 of the project.
1a) JOINT further defined and elaborated its key conceptual assumptions that a) the context of EUFSP is characterised by the interplay between intra-EU contestation (D2.1) regional fragmentation (D2.2) and multipolar competition (D2.3); and b) EUFSP governance is multi-actor (D3.1) multi-sector (D3.2 and D3.3) and multi-layered (D3.4). JOINT then produced a Conceptual Framework to investigate EUFSP (D2.4/D3.5) that operationalises the constraining factors (intra-EU contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition) and the conceptualisation of EUFSP governance as multi-actor/sector/layered.
1b) JOINT drew on the Conceptual Framework to elaborate a set of Guidelines for assessing the potential for improvement of EUFSP in nine case studies: Kosovo-Serbia, Israel-Palestine and Venezuela (intra-EU contestation case studies); Libya, the Horn of Africa and Syria (regional fragmentation case studies); and Iran, the South China Sea and Ukraine (multipolar competition case studies).
1c) JOINT started mapping public and elite perceptions of security challenges to their country and the EU.
3a) JOINT was instrumental in tightening personal and institutional links between all researchers working for the project: it organised 1 plenary, 1 public event and several workshops, as well as two panels at the ISA and EISA annual conferences. The Project Coordinator ensured that there was strong feedback and input on all deliverables.
3b) JOINT’s partners from non-EU countries and extra-EU members of the Advisory Board contributed non-European perspectives on EUFSP through participation in the plenary, lectures, workshops and the elaboration of policy briefs.
3c) JOINT laid the groundwork for establishing regular interactions between the project research team and the policymaking community. Specifically, JOINT made the necessary arrangements for seconding four young scholars to the foreign ministries of Italy, Germany and France, as well as the EEAS. The scholars are expected to be seconded (part-time or full-time) for a period of up to ten months in Year 2 of the project. The secondment of JOINT scholars is supposed to facilitate access of JOINT researchers to national and EU officials, as well as to raise awareness about the project and disseminating our research findings among officials.
1a) JOINT further defined and elaborated its key conceptual assumptions that a) the context of EUFSP is characterised by the interplay between intra-EU contestation (D2.1) regional fragmentation (D2.2) and multipolar competition (D2.3); and b) EUFSP governance is multi-actor (D3.1) multi-sector (D3.2 and D3.3) and multi-layered (D3.4). JOINT then produced a Conceptual Framework to investigate EUFSP (D2.4/D3.5) that operationalises the constraining factors (intra-EU contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition) and the conceptualisation of EUFSP governance as multi-actor/sector/layered.
1b) JOINT drew on the Conceptual Framework to elaborate a set of Guidelines for assessing the potential for improvement of EUFSP in nine case studies: Kosovo-Serbia, Israel-Palestine and Venezuela (intra-EU contestation case studies); Libya, the Horn of Africa and Syria (regional fragmentation case studies); and Iran, the South China Sea and Ukraine (multipolar competition case studies).
1c) JOINT started mapping public and elite perceptions of security challenges to their country and the EU.
3a) JOINT was instrumental in tightening personal and institutional links between all researchers working for the project: it organised 1 plenary, 1 public event and several workshops, as well as two panels at the ISA and EISA annual conferences. The Project Coordinator ensured that there was strong feedback and input on all deliverables.
3b) JOINT’s partners from non-EU countries and extra-EU members of the Advisory Board contributed non-European perspectives on EUFSP through participation in the plenary, lectures, workshops and the elaboration of policy briefs.
3c) JOINT laid the groundwork for establishing regular interactions between the project research team and the policymaking community. Specifically, JOINT made the necessary arrangements for seconding four young scholars to the foreign ministries of Italy, Germany and France, as well as the EEAS. The scholars are expected to be seconded (part-time or full-time) for a period of up to ten months in Year 2 of the project. The secondment of JOINT scholars is supposed to facilitate access of JOINT researchers to national and EU officials, as well as to raise awareness about the project and disseminating our research findings among officials.
JOINT has been conceived and designed as a scientific and policy-relevant, network-based project, which is therefore expected to have impact on multiple levels.
On a scientific and analytical level, JOINT aimed to upgrade the existing literature on EUFSP by introducing and mainstreaming its conceptualisations of the constraining factors of EUFSP (intra-EU contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition) and the multi-dimensional nature of EUFSP governance (multi-actor, multi-sector, multi-layered).
On a policy-relevant level, JOINT is expected to have impact once it achieves its empirical research ambitions through the work on the case studies, assessment criteria, public perceptions and patterns of evolution. In Year 1, the project nonetheless contributed policy-relevant analysis by way of 14 JOINT Briefs that dealt with the most salient issues of the moment, spanning the EU strategy for the Indo-Pacific and the effects on EUFSP of the AUKUS deal between the US, UK and Australia; the implications for Europe of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan; reconciliation processes in Libya and the Horn of Africa; the impact on EUFSP of the new French-Italian partnership treaty; the negotiation over the reactivation of the Iran nuclear deal; the evolution of transatlantic relations under the Biden Administration; and the implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine for Europe’s security order, transatlantic relations and the EU’s transformation into a ‘geopolitical’ actor.
On a network-relevant level, JOINT contributed to tightening research ties between its EU-based partners as well as between the latter and the project’s partners based outside the EU. Most importantly, JOINT laid the groundwork for creating platforms for regular interaction with policymakers, most notably officials from the French, German and Italian foreign ministries as well as the EEAS.
On a public dissemination level, JOINT devoted much effort to give visibility to its research outcome and activities by setting up a website, sending out newsletters and disseminating its products – JOINT Papers, Briefs and Reports, as well as video series – through the project’s and Project Coordinator’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts.
On a scientific and analytical level, JOINT aimed to upgrade the existing literature on EUFSP by introducing and mainstreaming its conceptualisations of the constraining factors of EUFSP (intra-EU contestation, regional fragmentation and multipolar competition) and the multi-dimensional nature of EUFSP governance (multi-actor, multi-sector, multi-layered).
On a policy-relevant level, JOINT is expected to have impact once it achieves its empirical research ambitions through the work on the case studies, assessment criteria, public perceptions and patterns of evolution. In Year 1, the project nonetheless contributed policy-relevant analysis by way of 14 JOINT Briefs that dealt with the most salient issues of the moment, spanning the EU strategy for the Indo-Pacific and the effects on EUFSP of the AUKUS deal between the US, UK and Australia; the implications for Europe of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan; reconciliation processes in Libya and the Horn of Africa; the impact on EUFSP of the new French-Italian partnership treaty; the negotiation over the reactivation of the Iran nuclear deal; the evolution of transatlantic relations under the Biden Administration; and the implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine for Europe’s security order, transatlantic relations and the EU’s transformation into a ‘geopolitical’ actor.
On a network-relevant level, JOINT contributed to tightening research ties between its EU-based partners as well as between the latter and the project’s partners based outside the EU. Most importantly, JOINT laid the groundwork for creating platforms for regular interaction with policymakers, most notably officials from the French, German and Italian foreign ministries as well as the EEAS.
On a public dissemination level, JOINT devoted much effort to give visibility to its research outcome and activities by setting up a website, sending out newsletters and disseminating its products – JOINT Papers, Briefs and Reports, as well as video series – through the project’s and Project Coordinator’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts.