The north Atlantic treaty organisation and the European Union's common security and defence policy : a comparative study

Abstract

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is an intergovernmental alliance of twenty-eight countries from North America and Europe. It came into being with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4th April 1949 in that tense atmosphere at the beginning of the "Cold War" period. The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is on the other hand a policy area of the European Union. It marks the extension of the EU onto the political issues of Security and Defence. CSDP was not however simply another Policy Area as in the Common Agricultural Policy or the European Neighbourhood Policy for example. New bureaucracies within the EU setup were specifically created, and older ones were inherited from another European security actor which never quite managed to occupy the limelight during the Cold War, leaving the centre stage to NATO. This was the now-defunct Western European Union (WEU). As a European Security actor nevertheless, WEU will also be briefly analysed in the course of this dissertation. CSDP in the meantime remains to this day the last intergovernmental area in the EU, where all other policy areas have adopted some form of the supranational characteristic of the EU. In Plate I, it can be noticed that Denmark, which is a fully fledged EU Member Sate, has not been included in the CSDP1 list. Denmark has in fact opted out from EU matters of Security and Defence. This, coupled with the specific administrative and policy organs set up within the EU framework, and the different rules that apply for CSDP decision making in the highest EU bodies, make CSDP, not simply another policy area of the EU, but truly an institution within a greater institution! The issue with this setup is therefore that there are two organisations broadly occupying the same space and time. This raises questions as to which organisation is doing/shall do what, where, when and to what final purpose; and ultimately if we do really need two security setups in Europe, if any at all! The literature one finds on the subject would either be a separate narrative on NATO or on CSDP; or a focus on the relationship between NATO and the EU; or a study into the trans-0Atlantic link. One also finds talk of a prescriptive "division of labour" between NATO and CSDP - as if to keep everyone in happy coexistence. Neorealist discourse predominant in Anglo-America is o.f CSDP as the undoing of NATO. On the other hand, the neorealist appreciation predominant within the ranks of the Continental-European political Left is of NATO as a tool of the American hegemon. The purpose of this dissertation is to carry out a comparative study into the two Organisations with the aim of analysing the true nature of these two organisations - what guides them, how different or how similar they truly are, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses may be, their impact in European affairs, their part in European history, in an attempt to analyse their place in the European present, and if possible, the European future! This dissertation is generally carried out from a Euro-centric approach. The reason for this is that while NATO is a trans-Atlantic organisation, CSDP is strictly European. Therefore, the geographical parameters have to be set at the borders of Europe. There was a name change in the Lisbon Treaty from European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) to Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). CSDP will generally be used throughout this dissertation. There are instances however where reference will be made to ESDP. The study does not analyse the relations that go on between the two organisations. That aspect is well documented elsewhere. On the other hand, a real sizing-up of the capabilities, strengths, composition and disposition of both organizations is attempted. The common denominator used is therefore not their relationship with each other but their relation to the concept of European Security.