Suchergebnisse

Since 2003, the European Union (EU) has developed into a provider of international security services. This capacity has involved a new policy tool, the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), a well as other EU external policy competencies. However, given the complex nature of EU institutions, and the extent to which EU policy domains overlap, the EU has also attempted to impose more coherence on its foreign security actions to improve their effectiveness and raise its overall global profile as a political actor. These efforts are increasingly framed as the 'comprehensive approach' to European security actions. The comprehensive approach refers to the EU's more pro-active, and more coordinated, integration of its various external policy tools to address specific international security problems. This article explains how processes of experiential institution learning helped generate new ideas regarding the comprehensive approach by examining a range of CSDP operations launched by the EU since 2003, each of which has required a considerable degree of institutional improvisation. This improvisation has inspired new institutional roles and capacities not found in formal treaties, and it suggests a capacity for endogenous institutional development on the part of the EU. Adapted from the source document.