European Military Culture and Security Governance. Soliders, Scholars and National Defence Universities

This book offers the first systematic, comparative analysis of military education and training in Europe within the context of the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

Demonstrating the overlooked convergence of military culture among European armed forces, the book presents the first analysis of an emerging European model of military education, through the establishment of National Defence Universities. These civilian accredited universities, which are run by Ministries of Defence, serve as the incubator for the Europeanization of the militaries' culture. Therefore, the book offers a unique comparative analysis of military education and training in Europe within the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

The central argument is that the advancement of the CSDP as a means to integrate European security, and thereby to institutionalize international cooperation within the security realm, has resulted in the emergence of a unique kind of 'security governance'. EU-member countries' security establishments are operating within a complex setting of multiple formal and informal networks and players; making cooperation both crucial and complicated. The book’s hypothesis is that these dramatic changes created a community of security experts within the EU. This community, in turn, is forging a new type of European defence professional and the development of a different kind of military education institution to educate them.

This ‘turn’ in European military education is part of a wider story in which European militaries are under considerable pressure to maximize interoperability, to improve military capacity and to meet the challenges of a new security environment. Therefore, the activity of this emerging ‘epistemic community’ in the field of defence is based upon earlier reforms in national systems of officer education. The common solution being pursued is the creation of National Defence Universities. These are not only directed to equip officers and senior national servants with new knowledge and skills to work within the European security governance but they also embed other transnational European trends such as: knowledge-based institutions; restructuring military education according to Bologna accords; the emergence of an inter-European faculty; and an emphasis on comprehensive and soft power approaches.

This book will be of much interest to students of military, European security policy, European politics, and IR in general.

Contents:
1. Introduction
2: The Baltic Defence College- Precursor of the NDUs Model
3: The UK Defence Academy
4: Finland's National Defence University
5: Romania's 'Carol 1' National Defence University
6: Comparison: External Dimensions
7: Comparison: Internal Dimensions
8: Conclusions and the Way Ahead towards a European Defence University