Contemporary geopolitics part 2 Flashcards
Significance of the EU
after the cold war, the international weight and credibility of the european community increased. After the fall of communism, a state of optimism begin with renewed momentum
Europe opens to ex-communist countries and in 2004 there is an enlargement to the Eas
What was the Solana Doctrine:
After the split in EU members regarding the invasion of Iraq, the EU needed a common strategic vision to enhance internal cohesion at EU level, Javier Solana drafted such a strategy
The European Security Strategy was adopted in 2003, which provided a conceptual framework for security and defense in the EU.
Titled A secure Europe in a Better World (2003), the ESS is a brief but comprehensive document which analysis and defines for the first time the EU’s security environment, identifying key security challenges and the subsequent political implication for the EU
What were the 5 threats that the Solana doctrine focused on?
Terrorism
Proliferation of WMDs
Regional conflicts
State failure
Organized crime
Solana and the European backyard:
The ESS also calls for preventive engagement to avoid new conflicts. Building security in the EU’s backyard is prioritized as is the goal of strengthening the international rules-based order through effective multilateralism
What was the main message of the ESS?
The EU needs to be more active, coherent and capable.
The importance of international cooperation and EU partnership is also emphasized by claiming that none of the threats can be tackled by the union alone.
The conclusion reaffirm that these challenges also pose opportunities for the EU to become more active and more capable in the pursuit of a safer more unified world
The implementation of the ESS
four years after the ESS, Solana was asked to examine the implementation of the strategy with a view to promising elements to complement and improve it
The resulting document was the 2008 report on the implementation of the ESS
The review acknowledged new threats to the Union:
- Cyber security
- Energy security
-Climate change
- piracy
What was the EU Global Strategy 2016?
SInce the ESS in 2003, the EU’s strategic environment has changed drastically
Much has been achieved over the last decade,
but today an arc of instability surrounds the union
Before the attack in Paris 2015, steps had already been taken to launch the new global strategy for security and foreign policy if the EU that was presented at the Summit on June 28 2016, just after brexit
The document led by the high representative, Federica Mogherini, is a proactive tool towards the political environment that legitimizes the survival of the EU in a complex moment and reaffirms it as a relevant actor in the nearest neighborhood as well as on the global stage, and projects it as a provider of global security
Explain the decline in western (EU) power?
There has been an economic shift to the east (China)
Mistrust in the west with Trump’s presidency, transatlantic division in trust
US does not want to be the international policeman, EU must take initiative in its neighbourhood
EU eroding as a normative and economic global power after the Euro Crisis
Increase in populist movements, anti-EU and anti-globalizations
Significance of the east today
China joined the WTO in 2001, and launched the silk road initiative which was supported by more than 100 countries and international organizations
Putin and Russia: new risks to the security stability
Arab Spring
What has signified the new multipolar world order?
G8 to G20 - more diversity in economic powerhouses
Geoeconomic issues displaces geopolitics, now a bigger issue
New actors such as Wikileaks, sovereign wealth funds
Shift from west to east
New needs for Europe:
In need of a sense of direction, the EU is in turbulent times with European decline an new actors emerging fighting for its power
New challenges: economic crisis, refugees, terrorism, rise of populism, brexit, climate change, russia
all this means that the EU needs a new Common Security and Defense Policy
