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Security and defence

The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is an integral part of EU foreign policy. Through its military operations and civilian missions, the EU has contributed to regional and global stability. Since it's inception, the CSDP has responded to a shifting regional security context. It has played a vital role in crisis management in the EU's near and wider neighbourhood but it is also an essential part of the EU's broader approach to the protection of Europe and capacity building.

Although the Lisbon Treaty consolidated the EU's crisis management apparatus, the EU Global Strategy has set a new level of ambition for EU defence. In addition to the CSDP playing an operational role in the EU's integrated approach to crises, the EU Global Strategy has stressed the need for the EU to become a more capable and effective defence actor. Initiatives such as the European Defence Fund, the coordinated annual defence review (CARD) and more coherent financing for EU operations and capacity building efforts are all aimed at supporting the EU's strategic autonomy and the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base. The EUISS continues to support the development of CSDP through outreach activities and expert publications.

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    23February 2016
    Report of the Group of Personalities on the Preparatory Action for CSDP-related research

    In 2015, the European Commission invited key personalities from European industry, government, the European Parliament and academia to advise it on establishing a Preparatory Action on Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)-related research. This Report is the result of several months of regular conversation and consultation among a group of experts encompassing the ‘sherpas’, officials from the European Commission and the EUISS.

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    17February 2016
    The EU and Africa: a changing security partnership
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    With Africans increasingly taking charge of security governance on their continent, this Brief assess to what extent the African Union’s partnership with the EU is truly strategic. Have the two continents finally managed to overcome the donor-recipient dynamic which long dominated their relationship?

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    17December 2015
    Mutual defence – one month on
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    A month after France invoked the mutual defence clause of the Lisbon Treaty, this Alert looks at the symbolic significance of the article and the implications of its invocation. What does it mean for the Union as a security actor?

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    27November 2015
    Gender balancing in CSDP
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    How successful has the EU been in implementing gender mainstreaming and achieving gender balance in its CSDP missions and operations?

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    20November 2015
    After Paris: why (now) the Lisbon Treaty
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    A week after the shocking events in Paris, the EUISS Director looks at France’s decision to seek the solidarity of its EU partners. Could member states now make use of instruments they created some time ago and have rarely thought about since?

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    13November 2015
    Defence & technology: the US between Silicon Valley and European allies
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    In response to concerns of losing technological superiority, the US is implementing the Defense Innovation Initiative. This intends to ensure that the Pentagon leverages breakthrough technologies from the traditional defence industrial base and commercial-technology sector alike. Also, what role can Europe play in the US third offset strategy?

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    28October 2015
    Hybrid operations: lessons from the past
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    This Brief examines the rise of hybrid threats, focusing in particular on Russia’s ongoing info-war against the West. Could the ‘psychological defences’ developed by several countries in Western Europe during the Cold War to counter Soviet propaganda now inspire the EU?

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    28October 2015
    Hybrid: what’s in a name?
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    The first in a mini-series of short publications on hybrid warfare, this Brief takes a closer look at what the widely-used term actually means. Now that the European Union considers itself a potential target of hybrid threats, what can it do to prepare an effective strategy to counter them?

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    28October 2015
    Hybrid tactics: ISIL & Co.
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    The last in a mini-series of EUISS publications on hybrid warfare, the Alert assesses the tactics employed by terrorist groups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) such as ISIL. How do they differ from those of state actors in other parts of the world?

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    28October 2015
    Hybrid tactics: Russia and the West
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    This Alert shows how disquiet in the West about Russia's use of hybrid tactics has elevated concern about the phenomenon to the strategic level, in particular due to fears that hybrid operations may undermine the credibility of deterrence.

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    01August 2004
    EU Security and Defence Policy: the first five years (1999-2004)
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    What are the ambitions of the Union in security and defence matters? What has been accomplished in the last five years? What are the different sensitivities of the 25 member states regarding the future of European defence? How should relations be developed with NATO and the United States? The reader will find here the most exhaustive critical assessment possible of the assets and achievements of the Union during the course of the first five years of ESDP (1999-2004).

  • 01July 2004
    A new impetus for ESDP
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    Among the clouds of abstention, apathy and doubts about the European integration project, the area of security and defence has seen indisputable progress in the last couple of years. The year 2003 witnessed a European Security Strategy document was endorsed last December. All of this would have been unthinkable just five years ago. Yet, the capabilities aspect of ESDP is still lagging behind.

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    01July 2004
    Protecting the European homeland — the CBR dimension
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    The Sarin attacks carried out by the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo in Matsumoto and Tokyo highlighted the threat posed by non-state actors equipped with non-conventional weapons. Although the number of casualties was limited, the attack signalled a cause for concern.

  • 14June 2004
    L'armement terrestre doit s'organiser
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    A partir d'aujourd'hui, les entreprises d'armement terrestre et aéroterrestre vont se réunir à Paris lors du salon international Eurosatory. Côté européen, l'ambiance sera sans doute mitigée. La situation reste difficile en particulier pour les producteurs de chars et de véhicules blindés, qui forment le noyau dur de l'industrie d'armement terrestre.

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    01May 2004
    European defence: a proposal for a White Paper
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    Europe is at peace but the world is not. Following the shock of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the Institute decided, two years ago, to convene an independent task force in order to address the issue of future European capabilities.

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    01April 2004
    Crisis management in sub-Saharan Africa - the role of the European Union
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    The increasing number and complexity of crisis situations in Africa and the declining interest of the international community in the region in the aftermath of the Cold War has led many African states and organisations to take a more proactive stance in their attempts to find solutions to their own problems.

  • 01March 2004
    Progress towards the European Defence Agency
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    European governments have since the early 1990s launched numerous initiatives to strengthen their armament cooperation. All these have been outside the EU framework because its member states have traditionally excluded armaments from the European integration process.

  • 01March 2004
    Europe et Etats-Unis -- Visions du monde, visions de l'autre
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    Trois paradoxes définissent l'attitude de l'Union face au monde extérieur. Le premier est typique de la modernité post-guerre froide : à de rares exceptions près, il est beaucoup plus facile aux Européens de s'entendre sur l'analyse des crises extérieures que sur l'analyse de la politique américaine. Autrement dit, le monde rassemble, l'Amérique divise.

  • 10February 2004
    A quoi sert le « Grand Moyen-Orient » ?
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    Du Maroc à l'Afghanistan, tout inventaire de la situation - un an après le début de la guerre en Irak - risque d'être comme de coutume complexe, ambigu, pire pour les uns, meilleur pour les autres, à l'exception de deux évidences : la détérioration continue du conflit israélo-palestinien d'une part ; l'extrême difficulté du « state building » en Irak, de l'autre

  • 22January 2004
    What future role for the EU in Iraq?
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    The Bertelsmann Foundation has convened a European task force on Iraq, whose main aim is to assess a possible EU involvement in the political reconstruction of that country

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