Mapping Research on European Peace Missions

This paper aims at mapping research on European peace missions since 1992.

The paper starts by identifying the early debates related to European peace missions. The first section focuses on contextual factors, member states' perspectives, and the institutional dynamics in Europe between 1992 and 1999.

The second section addresses the role of the EU as an international actor, with a special focus on the EU's cooperation with other international organisations, namely the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the African Union (AU).

Decision-making and planning processes within the EU are the focus of section three, which highlights as fundamental aspects identified in the literature the institutional framework and interactions, the political will, strategic culture and development, and the capability and expectations associated with these processes.

The literature on the evaluation of missions is reviewed in section four. It looks at the conceptualisation of evaluation, at content and methodological aspects, with a specific focus on their limitations.

The concluding remarks identify the possible avenues for future research, based on a critical assessment of emerging trends, underdeveloped issues and neglected aspects