Europes High End Military Challenges

This CSIS report examines the evolution of European military capabilities over the next decade. It asks two main questions. What military capabilities might European allies and partners of the United States possess by 2030? And what types of military missions will these states be able (and unable) to effectively perform by 2030? First, European militaries—including the largest and most capable European NATO members—will continue to struggle to conduct several types of missions without significant U.S. assistance. Second, European militaries will face significant challenges in the Indo-Pacific. Third, Europe’s major powers will likely have the capability to conduct most types of missions at the lower end of the conflict continuum without significant U.S. military aid. To sustain progress and overcome remaining challenges, NATO will have to revise its burden-sharing metrics, modernize defense planning and procurement practices, and address lagging political will.

In this follow-on report to Europe's High-End Military Challenges: The Future of European Capabilities and Missions, the CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program and International Security Program examine the other side of the coin of European military effectiveness: the political will of European countries to conduct military missions and operations. The report identifies the endogenous and exogenous factors constraining or increasing political will and maps them onto six country case studies. Four prototypes of political will emerged from the analysis: global partners, international activists, constrained partners, and minimalists. The report then assesses the political will of European allies and partners to conduct fifteen types of military missions and operations worldwide, from peacekeeping to large-scale combat. It concludes with a summary of key findings. First, it finds that internal and external factors—such as strategic culture and alliance dependence, respectively—will continue to constrain European political will in many cases, even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Second, European states are more likely to have the political will to engage in military missions at the lower end of the conflict spectrum (such as maritime patrol missions) and less likely at the higher ends of the spectrum, except in cases of significant collective or national defense.

In recent decades, a remarkable degree of strategic mobility and military reach, significant social and human capital, and an advanced industrial and scientific base have endowed the European Union with capable and effective armed forces. However, as centuries of European (or Western) dominance are currently giving way to a more multipolar and less governable world system, protecting common "strategic interests" without adequate military capabilities may become ever more difficult. Although Europeans remain relatively well-equipped to mobilise the tools needed to tackle potential threats, within the EU there is limited awareness or recognition of the emerging challenges, a basic disinterest in strategic matters, and relatively few voices calling for effective and sustainable armed forces. In addition, the European political and institutional landscape regarding defence and military matters is extremely segmented. It is in this context that this report seeks to place European military capabilities in a broader perspective and highlight potential avenues for exploration and development over the next decade.

The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first comprehensive analysis of national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the cold war. A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a notable blind spot in the existing literature. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces aims to fill this gap with fifty-one contributions on European defence and international security from around the world. The six parts focus on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe's major, medium, and lesser powers since the end of the cold war; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from interstate through intra-state and transnational; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.

Contemporary European Security explores the complex European security architecture and introduces students to the empirical, theoretical and conceptual approaches to studying the subject. Written by experts in each subfield, it addresses key topics within the wider strategic context of international security. Presenting traditional and critical debates to illuminate this ever-changing field it addresses specifically: European security since 2000 and the end of the Cold War. The evolution of International Relations theories in understanding security in Europe. The role of NATO in the post-war period and its strategy, impact and enlargement. The institutionalisation of the CSCE and the political tensions within the OSCE. The EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy and recent policy initiatives in defence. Feminist conceptions of European security. European military innovation. Security challenges in the post-Soviet space and the growing instability in the Middle East and North Africa. The emergence of human security. Internal and societal security. This essential textbook will be of key interests to students and scholars of European Security, Security and Military studies, Strategic Studies, European Politics and International Relations.

Improving Europe's military and civilian capabilities in a shifting security environment represents a major challenge for the EU and its member states. For one thing, European countries are having to contend with a climate of economic austerity that makes arguments in favour of investment in defence less convincing than they may (or may not) have been in more affluent times; second, broader geopolitical and strategic trends point towards Europeans assuming greater responsibility for their own security and the protection of European interests abroad; finally, the changing nature of conflict and projections concerning the coming decades call for a recalibration of the EU's approach and appropriate instruments for its engagement in conflicts in its neighbourhood and beyond.

In the coming decade, NATO faces growing fiscal austerity and declining defense budgets. This study analyzes the impact of planned defense budget cuts on the capabilities of seven European members of NATO: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland. The authors assess the implications of the cuts for NATO capabilities and strategy and for U.S. policy.

At the EU's Helsinki summit in 1999, European leaders took a decisive step toward the development of a new Common European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) aimed at giving the EU a stronger role in international affairs backed by a credible military force. This report analyzes the processes leading to the ESDP by examining why and how this new European consensus came about. It touches upon the controversies and challenges that still lie ahead. What are the national interests and driving forces behind it, and what steps need to be taken to realize Europe's ambitions to achieve a workable European crisis mgmt. capability?

This edited collection is a timely and in-depth analysis of the EU’s efforts to bring coherency and strategy to its security policy actions. Despite a special European Council summit in December 2013 on defence, it is generally acknowledged that fifteen years since its inception the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) has yet to acquire a clear sense of purpose. This book investigates those areas where the EU has established actorness in the security and defence field and asks whether they might constitute the elements of an emergent more coherent EU strategy on security. Taking a critical view, the contributors map the EU’s strategic vision(s) across particular key regions where the EU has been active as a security actor, the strategic challenges that it has pinpointed alongside the opportunities and barriers posed by a multiplicity of actors, interests and priorities identified by both member states and EU actors. By doing this we demonstrate where gaps in strategic thinking lie, where the EU has been unable to achieve its aims, and offer recommendations concerning the EU’s future strategic direction. This book will be of much interest to students of European security, EU policy, strategic studies and IR in general.

The emergence of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) in the last two-thirds of the 1990s and continuing into the new century, has been a complex process intertwining politics, economics, national cultures, and numerous institutions. This book provides an essential background for understanding how security issues as between NATO and the European Union are being posed for the early part of the 21st century, including the new circumstances following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. This study should be of interest to those interested in the evolution of U.S.-European relations, especially in, but not limited to, the security field; the development of institutional relationships; and key choices that lie ahead in regard to these critical arrangements.