Attempts to strengthen political co-operation

Abstract

The end of World War II saw the rise of the theory of realism in international relations, which remained dominant throughout the Cold War period. Realism is considered as 'the pursuit of national policies to preserve international order and also to protect and promote those interests and values deemed important by the ruling elite'. More importantly it projects the nation-state as the major actor in international relations. However this state-centric approach has become increasingly inappropriate in today's world-order. In the 70s the pluralist theory starts challenging the realist approach by claiming that the states are not necessarily the most important actors in international relations. Pluralists claim that a sudden proliferation of regional and functionalist organisations (such as the European Community) and non-intergovernmental actors have up to a certain extent taken over the role of the state in certain policy areas creating an interdependent world in the spheres of economic, political and military/strategic fields. Following suite the European Union (EU) has moved progressively closer to a 'common' foreign policy since the early 1970s with the introduction of European Political Cooperation (EPC). Yet co-operation in areas of foreign policy, security and defence has always been regarded as a sensitive issue for the Member States of the European Union. Integration in the area of high politics is regarded as synonymous with surrendering sovereignty of the nation-state, thus leading to serious difficulties in the shaping of common policies in this field. According to Hill and Wallace the 'Common Foreign and Security Policy has moved the conduct of national foreign policy away from the old nation-state national sovereignty model towards a collective endeavor, a form of high-level networking with transformational effects.' This notwithstanding CFSP is still based on an intergovernmental structure where the individual member states of the Union play a significant role in the shaping of foreign policy. The aim of this dissertation is to study the impact of policies of the fifteen Member States of the Union on the process towards further political integration and how these in turn might influence the eventual development of a Common European Security and Defence Policy.