Conclusion — Theory-Development in the European Security and Defence Policy

Abstract

Before this chapter recapitulates the argument of this study step-by-step, I first discuss the importance of resolving the puzzles raised in the Introduction and the value added to International Relations as a discipline. The primary relevance was given by the simple existence of the ESDP, combined with the discipline’s failure to explain this in a theoretically coherent, rather than ad hoc, manner. A European defence pillar was established at the end of the 1990s, albeit not within NATO, as most indicators had initially suggested. Therefore, the member states’ preferences represented a highly suitable point of departure for analysing the emergence of this security institution. In particular, the empirical analysis of preferences on substantive scope provided an answer to the puzzle of why the ESDP emerged. Because this had corresponded closely to France’s initial position, I focus on Germany and Britain and on the factors that triggered their preferences towards the establishment of an EU defence pillar rather than a European one within NATO.