International Relations Theory and European Security. We Thought We Knew

This book tackles key contemporary European security issues from a variety of different theoretical standpoints, in an attempt to uncover the drivers of foreign policy and defence integration in the EU.

European foreign policy has been attracting an ever-increasing number of international relations (IR) scholars since the end of the Cold War. Many valuable contributions applied mainstream theories to account for the ESDP/CSDP process, but consensus on what drives European foreign policy integration has not yet emerged. This is partly the result of its being a non-linear process, where progress and retreat proceed side by side. Yet, in their search for parsimonious explanations, theories are also accountable for the lack of a widely accepted explanation.

Bringing together scholars with divergent theoretical orientations and deep knowledge of EU security issues, this book provides a state-of-the-art discussion of such important issues as the development of CSDP post-Lisbon Treaty, the EU’s relations with Russia, and France’s rapprochement with NATO, among others, from multiple theoretical perspectives. Countering this variety of topics, the thread that ties the chapters together is represented by the contributors’ collective attempt to highlight the drivers of EU foreign policy and defence integration. In this respect, the book’s claim to originality lies in the fact that it pays considerable attention not just to the internal drivers of EU cooperation, but also to the critical role played by the US as an incentive or obstacle to European security. The theoretical part of the work presents old constructs such as realism and liberalism, which continue to be relevant, and new approaches that have joined the debate, such as constructivism.

This book will be of much interest to students of European security, IR theory, European politics and EU foreign policy.

Contents:
+ Foreword - Aaron and Regina Karp
1. Introduction - Lorenzo Cladi and Andrea Locatelli

PART I: Do IR Theories Have a Say on CSDP?
2. Structural Realism: Balancing, Bandwagoning, or What? - Lorenzo Cladi and Andrea Locatelli
3. Neoclassical Realism: Clarifying the Nature of Systemic- and Domestic-Level Variables in CSDP - Tom Dyson
4. Liberalism - Friederike Richter
5. Expectations, Capabilities and Strategic Cultures: CSDP as an Identity Project - Felix Berenskotter and Bastian Giegerich
6. European Security Governance and International Bureaucracy - Kamil Zwolski

PART II: On the Limits of IR Theories to Understand CSDP
7. Why CSDP Is not a Strategy - Olivier Schmitt
8. Geopolitics, Grand Strategy and the EU-NATO Conundrum - Luiz Simon
9. France, America, and the Issue of 'Balancing' (Soft or Otherwise): A Tale of Two Cycles - David Haglund
10. Europe and Russia - Serena Giusti
11. The CSDP in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Case Study for Theories of European Integration - Lorenzo Cladi
12. Conclusion - Lorenzo Cladi and Andrea Locatelli