Does Tension Make Greater Integration Possible in the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union? an Analysis Through the Kosovo Conflict
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DOES TENSION MAKE GREATER INTEGRATION POSSIBLE IN THE COMMON FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION? AN ANALYSIS THROUGH THE KOSOVO CONFLICT İNCİ NUR ÖZBIYIK M.A in International Affairs AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PARIS 2012 Acknowledgements I am very grateful to Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme for providing me such an extraordinary opportunity to study at AUP in Paris. I also would like to thank to the wonderful faculty and staff at AUP, especially Professor Hall Gardner for his valuable comments and guidance during my study. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 1. Theoretical Debates on European Foreign Policy……………………………………4 a. Realism and EFP…………………………………………………………………….5 b. The EU as a Civilian Power………………………………………………………...8 c. Integration Theories and EFP……………………………………………………..10 d. Europeanization and EFP…………………………………………………………14 2. The Kosovo Conflict and the CFSP…………………………………………………..20 3. The European Foreign Policy Behavior: Is There a Trend?......................................34 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………...43 Annex……………………………………………………………………………………...46 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………...52 ii Introduction It has been two decades since the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was included in the European Union (EU) as one of the policy areas.1 Since then, the debate regarding the achievement of the CFSP continues among scholars as well as policy makers mainly due to the lack of coherence within the EU in response to the various crises in the world. In addition, the limited role of EU institutions derived from the intergovernmental feature of the CFSP is also contributing to the ongoing debate. As an intergovernmental policy area2, CFSP’s achievement mainly depends on the coherence among its creators, namely the Council representing national interests, and the EU institutions in the field of the CFSP. The disagreements among member states and the increasing weight of the European Parliament make this area even more complex. In such a political environment, tension inevitably appears in the European Foreign Policy (EFP)3 behavior. Most observers call this tension an obstacle to the functioning of the CFSP. However, although tension has been introduced as an obstacle for EFP behavior, it is also possible to see it as a force for the EU to reach greater integration, which can be traced down through various cases along with the historical development of the CFSP. Therefore, it is argued in this thesis that since the adoption of the CFSP, each foreign policy issue among various actors within the EU results in tension as well as debate, an eventual EU reform and, finally, a new level of integration. For those who argue that the CFSP will fail because of its limited competency, it is discussed in the following chapters that this perception is due to the state-centric approach of these observers. The EU is not a sovereign-state and therefore, its foreign policy 1 See Annex for the Historical Development of the CFSP. 2 According to Article 31 TEU , The Council can only act by qualified majority in cases where a former decision has been based on a unanimous vote. 3 In the literature, foreign policy of the EU is mostly referred as European Foreign Policy (EFP), even though the latter also covers non-EU European States as well as EU member states. However, growing complexity makes it almost impossible to distinguish EFP from EU foreign policy. Also, although EFP covers other policy areas such as EU’s economic relations, or foreign policies devoted to specific issues or regions, the focus has been given to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in this thesis. Therefore, the CFSP and EFP are used interchangebly. 1 behavior is naturally different from that of sovereign-state. However, during its development in the course of time, the CFSP has also started to cut to the heart of the sovereignty similar to the Community areas, which gradually places the CFSP in between intergovernmental and supranational4 levels of the EU. In the literature, there are plenty of attempts from scholars to examine EFP, even though there is no one grand theory. Also, there is no consensus either on the concepts or on the definitions among the scholars. Most of the theories are mono-causal or mono-systemic approaches focusing on one specific feature of EFP behavior. Moreover, theories mostly focus on the effectiveness of EFP, rather than its functioning. Therefore, in the first chapter, the arguments of International Relations (IR), Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) and European Integration approaches are introduced in the context of the argument. In the second chapter, since the main argument of this thesis requires attention to the functioning of the CFSP rather than its effectiveness in the international politics, the Kosovo conflict, which represents a milestone in the field, is selected and discussed accordingly. Firstly, Kosovo confirmed that the EU was not capable of providing security even in its own vicinity and therefore led to a debate, which brought the hard power issue on the EU’s agenda. Secondly, lack of coherence on the status of Kosovo at the EU level presents another tension, which directed the EU to more pragmatic solutions on the way of integrating the region into the European project. Although parties have not reached any resolution until recently, the EU gained an evolving CSDP, a security strategy, civilian crisis management capabilities, as well as experience as the main facilitator in this specific conflict. During this conflict, the new EU policies regarding the region have been criticized due to their potential effects such as the military component on the EU’s civilian status, EU’s relations with NATO, the US, and Russia as well as financial pressure on national budgets. 4 Although there are several views on what makes a system supranational, they usually include the capasity for autonomous decision making, the capacity to adopt legally binding rules by qualified majority voting, judicial enforcement mechanisims and parliamentary control as well as financial autonomy. See: Claudia Major, “Europeanization and Foreign and Security Policy – Undermining or Rescuing the Nation State?”, Political Studies Association, Vol 25 (3), (2005): 242. 2 Although Kosovo caused tension and debate among the CFSP actors, namely EU institutions as well as member states, it also contributed to the EU’s integration through the application of the CFSP instruments and creation of new policies. Therefore, Kosovo represents an important case full of tension as well as opportunities for greater integration. In the last chapter, the existing theoretical arguments in the EFP literature are revisited to clarify the main argument of this thesis, which is that tension in the field of the CFSP results in debate, an eventual EU reform and, finally, a new level of integration that is inherent in the EFP behavior. The methodological challenge for this thesis is to define and isolate the functioning of the EU from other domestic or global influences impacting upon the CFSP.5 To attempt to meet this challenge, equal attention is paid to the each theory regarding EFP. Therefore, in this thesis, several approaches are introduced along with both endogenous and exogenous influences that can be competing or mutually reinforcing. 5 Claudia Major, “Europeanization and Foreign and Security Policy – Undermining or Rescuing the Nation State?”, Political Studies Association, Vol 25 (3), (2005): 183. 3 1. Theoretical Debates on European Foreign Policy It has been challenging for the scholars to categorize EFP behavior as the EU is neither a state nor a non-state actor and not a conventional international organization nor an international regime.6 According to Smith, while Westphalian model nation-state is defined by concentration of power, hierarchy, sovereignty, and clear-cut identity, the EU resembles a neo-medieval empire with overlapping authorities, divided sovereignty, diversified institutional arrangements, and multiple identities.7 Thus, while the nation-state pursues national interests, which are known as possession goals, the EU mostly pursues milieu goals that focus on long term achievement of its foreign policy ideals as a result of its given instruments.8 Due to its particular identity derived from its historical evolution, the EU became a hybrid polity having a distinctive international identity.9 Theorists, trapped with this challenge, mostly discussed whether to approach EFP from different perspectives, which provide a fruitful but also an eclectic area of study.10 Since the emergence of FPA in 1950s, there has been relative consensus about the central objects of this area, which are the state, its external relations, and multitude of actors in its external environment.11 In the post-Westhephalian world, there are several actors at different levels in IR namely state actors, intergovernmental organizations and actors below the state.12 However, there is no conceptual work to define these new units apart from state as well as no post-FPA either.13 This situation has directed some others to a 6 Ulrich Krotz and Richard Maher, “International Relations Theory and the Rise of European Foreign and Security Policy,” World Politics, Vol 63 (3), (July 2011): 552. 7 Karen Smith, “The European Union: A Distinctive Actor in International Relations”, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol IX (2) (2003):104. 8 Arnold Wolfers, Discord and Collaboration: Essays on International Politics, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,1962): 73-6 quoted in Karen Smith, “The European Union: A Distinctive Actor in International Relations”, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol IX (2) (2003):107. 9 Ian Manners, “Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?”, JCMS, Vol 40 (2), (2002): 252. 10 Michael E. Smith, “Researching European Foreign Policy: Some Fundamentals,” Political Studies Association, Politics Vol 28(3) (2008): 177. 11 Henrik Larsen, “A Distinct FPA for Europe? Towards a Comprehensive Framework for Analyzing the Foreign Policy of EU Member States”, European Journal of International Relations, (February 2009): 543. 12 Ibid, 543. 13 Ibid. 4 large definition.