Search results

The objective of this PhD thesis is to explain why and under what conditions the EU cooperates with the UN in the field of security and development. It focuses specifically on the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). To do so, the thesis presents and analyses a broad empirical research carried out on 6 case studies across the Maghreb, Levant and Middle East, via extensive direct observation, expert interviews and the use of primary sources, in addition to the study of secondary literature. The research adopts an original rationalist meta-theoretical approach using insights coming from rational-choice institutionalism, liberalism, organizational theory, neo-functionalism and bureaucratic politics to identify the key explanatory factors: capacity and legitimacy, unity and integration. It then carries out a comparative qualitative analysis based on 12 variables and a typology of approaches to cooperation (dependent, ceremonial, predatory, dismissive), applicable both to the EU as a whole and its component actors. The findings show that the EU's individual decisions to cooperate with the United Nations tend to be inversely linked to its relative power and cohesiveness over a specific issue. The picture is one of instrumental multilateralism, motivated mostly by resource dependence on the UN or by Europe's frequent lack of cohesion, particularly in the MENA region. Collectively, the EU adopts multilateral strategies of cooperating with the UN when it is forced by the context, when it is divided, fragmented or generally weak. This is confirmed also by contrasting development and security policy. It would seem that the tendency to cooperate is greater in the high politics security field, which is characterized by inter-governmental policy-making, diverging policy preferences of EU member states and a high need for international legitimacy. EU Cooperation with the UN on development policy is often more elusive. EU member states use the UN both to mask their division on a policy and to reinforce their independent status and role within the international system. The European institutions, instead, tend to use cooperation with the UN to gain ground and voice in areas from where they would be otherwise excluded. The thesis is divided in 8 chapters. The Introduction presents the key questions and research design. Chapter 2 looks at the conceptual framework more in detail and operationalizes the explanatory factors and variables. Chapter 3 provides an analytical overview of the mechanisms and logics of EU-UN cooperation across development and security. Chapter 4-6 analyse the specific case studies in the MENA. Chapter 7 synthesizes and illustrates the key findings against the two main hypotheses on resources and cohesion and other intervening factors. Lastly, the Conclusions discuss the significance and limitations.

Abstract. In Europe, the discussion on the reform of the UN has run parallel to the institutionalization of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Since the Treaty of Maastricht, the CFSP began raising expectations about the possible role of the European Union (EU) in the UN, ranging from a common representation to a more effective coordination of the EU Member States on the Security Council. The purpose of this essay is to explore the link between the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the development of the CFSP of the EU. To what extent and how does the UN institutional structure have an impact on European integration in the fi eld of foreign and security policy? To answer this question, the essay follows the evolution of European representation and coordination on the Security Council until the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, by using insights from realism, historical, and sociological institutionalism. Finally, it looks at how future reforms of the UNSC would affect the CFSP. The essay argues that the UN reform debate has infl uenced the development of EU foreign policy at the UN. Opposing strategies as well as institutional and sociological logics all resulted in an ambiguous process of incremental institutionalization of internal coordination. A reform of the UNSC would open new institutional opportunities and paths for European integration in foreign policy, either strengthening the current trend towards a directoire or encouraging new patterns of information sharing, coordination, and representation.