The Development of EU conflict management instruments since the Maastricht Treaty.: The study of institutional changes and the practical application from historical institutionalism perspective.

Lavrinovica, Liga

4. term

European Studies, Master

2013

2013-06-28

61

EF blev oprettet for at forhindre nye krige i Europa, men udviklede sig gradvist fra et økonomisk projekt til også at være en politisk aktør. I begyndelsen koordinerede medlemslandene udenrigspolitikken gennem løse retningslinjer. Efter den kolde krig og Sovjetunionens sammenbrud opstod der konflikter i EU’s nærområde, som stillede nye krav. Maastrichttraktaten fra 1992 skabte formelt Den Europæiske Union og etablerede den Fælles Udenrigs- og Sikkerhedspolitik (FUSP), der gav et juridisk grundlag for fælles ekstern handling; efterfølgende traktater udbyggede EU’s redskaber til konflikthåndtering. Specialet kortlægger, hvordan institutionelle ændringer har formet EU’s praksis for konflikthåndtering. Det anvender historisk institutionalisme—mere specifikt en sociologisk tilgang, der undersøger, hvordan institutioner, normer og identiteter udvikler sig over tid. Analysen omfatter fire EU-traktater og fire konflikter i nærområdet, som fulgte efter hver traktat. Hovedkonklusionen er, at overvejende gradvise ændringer har omsat ambitioner til praksis og indsnævret forventnings-kapacitetskløften (forskellen mellem det, man forventer, at EU kan, og det, EU faktisk kan) siden Maastricht. Samtidig var resultaterne i høj grad præget af medlemslandenes nationale interesser og kravet om at nå konsensus.

The European Communities (EC) were created to prevent another war in Europe, but over time they evolved from an economic project into a political actor as well. At first, member states coordinated foreign policy through loose guidelines. After the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, conflicts in Europe’s neighborhood posed new challenges. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty formally created the European Union and established the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), providing a legal basis for joint external action; later treaties expanded the EU’s conflict-management tools. This thesis traces how institutional changes have shaped the EU’s approach to conflict management in practice. It uses historical institutionalism—specifically a sociological perspective that examines how institutions, norms, and identities evolve over time—to study change. The analysis reviews four EU treaties and four nearby conflicts that followed each treaty. The main finding is that mostly incremental reforms helped turn ambitions into action and narrow the expectations-capabilities gap (the distance between what people expect the EU to do and what it can actually do) since Maastricht. At the same time, outcomes were strongly influenced by member states’ national interests and the need to reach consensus.

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