Jocelyn Mawdsley Livres

The development of the European Security and Defence Policy means that the EU also needs to respond to the global armaments agenda. However, as this book shows, this is a contested and under-researched policy space. There are conflicting pressures between the claims of trade and security. Should the EU armaments policy be aimed at securing defence industry competitiveness or military capabilities? Can it be autonomous or must it be transatlantic? What are the security priorities of the Union? Similar conflicts exist with the EU’s commitment to the global disarmament agenda. Are its policies weakened by the pursuit of agendas using armaments for security and economic gain? Another dilemma of politics in the age of globalisation is the contradiction between system effectiveness and citizen participation. This book asks if supporters of Europeanisation of armaments and disarmament policy are really considering the question of continued democratic accountability. The contributions to this book map these contradictory pressures by critically analysing the EU as an armaments actor, as a disarmament actor and finally as a provider of a democratically accountable armaments policy space.

This edited collection is a timely and in-depth analysis of the EU's efforts to bring coherency and strategy to its security policy actions.Despite a special European Council summit in December 2013 on defence, it is generally acknowledged that fifteen years since its inception the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) has yet to acquire a clear sense of purpose. This book investigates those areas where the EU has established actorness in the security and defence field and asks whether they might constitute the elements of an emergent more coherent EU strategy on security. Taking a critical view, the contributors map the EU's strategic vision(s) across particular key regions where the EU has been active as a security actor, the strategic challenges that it has pinpointed alongside the opportunities and barriers posed by a multiplicity of actors, interests and priorities identified by both member states and EU actors. By doing this we demonstrate where gaps in strategic thinking lie, where the EU has been unable to achieve its aims, and offer recommendations concerning the EU's future strategic direction.This book will be of much interest to students of European security, EU policy, strategic studies and IR in general.