Readings In European Security

This volume serves as a prism through which the European Union's external relations and security can be assessed. Experts tackle strategic issues such as Russia's relationship with the West, the rise of China (with special reference to arms supplies), Iran"s nuclear program, and European homeland security against the background of global terrorism. On these issues and others, transatlantic relations continue to be more relevant than ever, with the United States and the EU intertwined in the world's tightest network of economic and societal relations. As the enlarging EU stretches to cover an expanding area of competence, its responses to these challenges affect not only its internal security but increasingly that of its neighbors and other powerful actors on the world stage.

The European Security Forum brings together senior officials and experts from EU and Euro-Atlantic Partnership countries, including the United States and Russia, to discuss security issues of strategic importance to Europe. Now in its sixth year of operation, the Forum is jointly directed by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. The ambition of this fourth annual volume of Readings in European Security is to serve as a prism through which the EU's external relations and security can be assessed, with contributions from its American and Russian partners. The book contains the complete set of working papers presented and discussed from January through December 2006. During this period, international experts tackled highly topical strategic issues ranging from the security of energy supplies in Europe to Ukraine's strategic security to Islamic extremism in Europe to the strategic implications of the failed EU Constitutional Treaty.

The European Security Forum is a joint initiative of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), launched in late 2000. The objective of the Forum is to bring together senior officials and experts from EU and Euro-Atlantic Partnership countries, including the United States and Russia, to discuss security issues of strategic importance to Europe. The Forum is jointly directed by CEPS and the IISS and is hosted by CEPS in Brussels. This first volume of Readings in European Security contains the complete set of working papers commissioned by the Forum since its founding through November 2002 (Nos. 1-9). The papers are written by independent experts presenting EU, US and Russian viewpoints on the topic.

Produced principally for postgraduate unit AIR750 (European security issues) offered by the Faculty of Arts' School of International and Political Studies in Deakin University's Open Campus Program.

Europe has undergone quite profound changes since the end of the Cold War. Having been a highly militarised, conflict-ridden and war-ridden region, the core of Europe today constitutes a security community where armed conflicts among the constituent states has become inconceivable. This comprehensive book offers a theoretically founded and thoroughly documented analysis of European security, with a special emphasis on the role played by the United Nations and the various regional and sub-regional organisations, especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the European Union. When it comes to explaining peace in Europe opinions differ widely. Some argue that it was only because the West refused to give in to Soviet threats that the latter eventually gave up; or that the 'long peace' in Europe was due to the combination of a bipolar alliance structure, pitting the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) against the Warsaw Pact, with the presence of nuclear weapons on both sides. Others point instead to the extraordinarily dense network of international institutions and organisations in Europe, offering a wide panoply of fora in which to handle disputes peacefully; or to the web of interdependence in economic and other affairs, tying together all states in Europe in relations which militate strongly against war. Still others believe that the external peace between the states in Europe is simply a reflection of a convergence of cultures, democracies with marked economies that are open towards the world market. These questions are the focal point of this book, which concentrates on security, albeit not in the sense of being a treatise on military matters, but security obtainable by much more indirect and non-military means. It will be required reading for all students and scholars of European security and the organisations which underpin it.

The Handbook of European Security Law and Policy offers a holistic discussion of the contemporary challenges to the security of the European Union and emphasizes the complexity of dealing with these through legislation and policy. Considering security from a human perspective, the book opens with a general introduction to the key issues in European Security Law and Policy before delving into three main areas. Institutions, policies and mechanisms used by Security, Defence Policy and Internal Affairs form the conceptual framework of the book; at the same time, an extensive analysis of the risks and challenges facing the EU, including threats to human rights and sustainability, as well as the European Union’s legal and political response to these challenges, is provided. This Handbook is essential reading for scholars and students of European law, security law, EU law and interdisciplinary legal and political studies.

This book provides some answers to the questions of how to pursue the build-down of the East-West military confrontation in Europe and of how to build up an enduring and effective security system for Europe. It is the result of a three year study of European security affairs.