Leiden University Student Repository

Smit, Maarten (2020)

Moving Beyond Intergovernmentalism: Historical Institutionalist Perspective on EU’s Security and Defence Policy

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is traditionally characterized as a delicate policy area in which Member States reach agreement through tardy intergovernmental decision-making procedures. However, from 2015 onwards new initiatives in the CSDP have revealed unprecedented policy progress. Several scholars have applied state-centred- and realist approaches in accounting for the suggested policy impetus. To offer a more complete account, this Thesis seeks to contextualise the impetus from a historical institutionalist perspective. By analysing the evolvement of the European External Action Service (EEAS) since the Treaty of Lisbon, the main findings suggest that inter-institutional interplays and institutional autonomy have weakened the influence of Member States in CSDP’s policymaking process. As a consequence, institutional bodies like the EEAS found a legitimate way to considerably influence the innovative policy initiatives.

EU

CSDP

Historical Institutionalism

European Integration

EEAS

Author

Smit, Maarten

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Europe

Supervisors

Tsagdis, Georgios

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en