Descriptif

This lecture aims at providing students with theories and empirical knowledge about European security and the role the EU plays in that respect: this course builds on and discusses the various theories to explain the development of the EU’s roles in the security field. Sessions will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of various theoretical frameworks.

While European Security has been considered for a long time as dependent almost exclusively on the Transatlantic Alliance (NATO) and its American pillar, the European Union has been developing a comprehensive security policy (CFSP/CSDP). This has been a controversial issue in both political and scientific realms, for some considered it an anomaly with regard to the state’s sovereignty on these issues and with regard to the alleged – sometimes self-proclaimed – civilian (economic/political) nature of the EU. Notwithstanding the centrality of the state in the security domain, limiting the analysis to it is unsufficient to account for contemporary developments.