/ Research
New Issue of the Basel Papers
The 104th issue of the Basel Papers has been published. In this issue’s contribution “The Common Security and Defense Policy in Crisis?”, Tanja Klein raises the question, whether national role conceptions and sovereignty pose a challenge to European agency.
In her contribution, Tanja Klein identifies sources of the challenges faced by the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union. Based on an actorness approach, the contribution offers a systematic and theory-driven framework for the analysis of these challenges. Their investigation is based on publications of thirteen think tanks that were published in the context of the December summit of the European Council in 2013. Through her approach, Tanja Klein identifies two main sources at a national level. First, she shows that the significance of national sovereignty in the sensitive domain of security and defence policy is an obstacle to the development of the CSDP. Second, her analysis reveals that foreign policy role conceptions are a fundamental factor: different role conceptions of member states result in a lack of mutual understanding, in missing trust, and finally, in the unwillingness to transfer actorness to the EU level despite a common set of basic interests and values. Yet, the political will of member states will be decisive for the future development of the CSDP.
Tanja Klein is research and teaching assistant at the Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel and PhD candidate in political science. She studied public administration and European studies at the Universities of Münster and Twente and public policy at the University of Potsdam. Her research focuses on foreign policy analysis and right-wing populist movements in Western Europe. In her PhD thesis, she is working on the positions of member states in the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union.
Tanja Klein’s contribution “The Common Security and Defense Policy in Crisis? National Role Conceptions and Sovereignty as Challenges for European Agency” was published as the 104th issue of the Basel Papers. The Basel Papers are published in digital form on the website of the Institute for European Global Studies. Interested readers may download them for free from our website.
By September 2014, the Basel Papers will change their appearance: in four issues per year, the Institute for European Global Studies of the University of Basel presents excellent research conducted by graduates as well as other young and ambitious researchers, who approach the global relations of Europe and the European Union. As of the present issue, the Basel Papers have changed their title from “ Basel Papers on European Integration” to “Global Europe - Basel Papers on Europe in a Global Perspective”.
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