STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY Department of Economic History and International Relations Master’s Thesis in International Relations with specialization in GPE Spring Term 2021 Student: Tobias Michael Eichinger Supervisor: Stephanie Winkler EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN DEFENCE - EXAMINING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CSDP AFTER BREXIT THROUGH A MECHASIM-BASED APPROACH Abstract The Common Defence and Security Policy (CSDP) of the European Union has experienced a surprisingly active period shortly after the Brexit referendum which led to various initiatives that moved the Union towards more integration in defence and security. This thesis investigates the development of CSDP after Brexit through an explaining-outcome process tracing approach. The activities of France, Germany, and the EU from mid-2016 until the end of 2017 have been traced to reach a detailed account of what has happened in European politics during that time. It was found that common International Relations (IR) and European Integration studies theoretic frameworks like neorealism or intergovernmentalism reach their explanatory limits for this specific historic case. The empirical work has identified three key factors responsible for the move towards more integration: urgency, falling forward and a window of opportunity. These three factors were found to have worked together in influencing the activities of the three examined actors. Additionally, the empirical material points towards a combination of both ideational and material factors that have played a role in the development of CSDP after Brexit. Keywords CSDP, European Union, Process-Tracing, Brexit, Defence, Window of Opportunity II Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my supervisor Stephanie Winkler for her vital support during these last couple of months, especially in times of doubt on how to proceed best. Her advice played an important role in the successful completion of my master thesis. A distinct thanks must also go out to two of my fellow students who encouraged my work and provided insightful ideas for discussion. Besides their academic collaboration they have also made the more stressful periods easier through much needed fun and distraction. Furthermore, I would like to thank my family who enabled me to pursue a master’s degree abroad in Stockholm and supported me in countless ways over the last two years. Even though it turned out quite differently to what I had pictured beforehand due to a pandemic that flipped life upside down, the experience of studying in Sweden has nevertheless been life-changing and opened many new perspectives. Finally, thank you to my beloved sweetheart for always standing by my side and your unwavering belief in me. III Table of Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................. VI LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................... VI 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 3 3. THEORY ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 3.1 NEOREALISM & INTERGOVERNMENTALISM ................................................................................................... 8 3.2 NEOFUNCTIONALISM .................................................................................................................................... 10 3.3 INSTITUTIONALISM ....................................................................................................................................... 11 3.4 TRANSNATIONALISM & TRANSGOVERNMENTALISM .................................................................................... 12 3.5 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................................. 14 4. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................... 15 4.1 PROCESS TRACING ....................................................................................................................................... 16 4.2 DATA AND MATERIAL OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................. 19 4.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................................................................... 21 5. HISTORIC BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................... 22 5.1 EMERGING EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR II ................................................................................................. 23 5.2 FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL TO ST. MALO ................................................................................................... 24 5.3 THE LISBON TREATY, CSDP AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF BREXIT ................................................................ 25 6. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................... 27 6.1 FRANCE ........................................................................................................................................................ 28 6.2 GERMANY .................................................................................................................................................... 32 6.3 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND EU COMMISSION .......................................................................................... 37 6.4 SUMMARY: THE OVERALL PROCESS ............................................................................................................. 43 7. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................................... 44 8. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................. 49 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 51 IV List of Abbreviations CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy CSDP Common Security and Defence Policy EDA European Defence Agency EDF European Defence Fund ESDP European Security and Defence Policy EUGS European Union Global Strategy IR International Relations NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization PESCO Permanent Structured Cooperation PSC Political Security Committee RQ Research Question SEDE Subcommittee on Security and Defence of the European Parliament TEU Treaty on European Union TFEU Treaty on Functioning of the European Union WWII Second World War V List of Figures Figure 1: Location of thesis in current literature (author's own illustration) ............................. 5 Figure 2: Main theoretical groups (author's own illustration) .................................................... 5 Figure 3: Process tracing (author's own illustration; based on Beach, 2017) .......................... 16 Figure 4: Tracing the process in CSDP development (author's own illustration) .................... 18 Figure 5: Activities by France - Process Tracing (author’s own illustration) .......................... 32 Figure 6: Activities by Germany - Process Tracing (author's own illustration) ....................... 36 Figure 7: Activities by the EU - Process Tracing (author's own illustration) .......................... 42 Figure 8: The combined process (author's own illustration) .................................................... 43 List of Tables Table 1: Theories and their view on CSDP (author’s own table) ............................................ 15 Table 2: France - Key themes from the empirical analysis (author’s own table) .................... 32 Table 3: Germany - Key themes from the empirical analysis (author’s own table) ................ 36 Table 4: EU - Key themes from the empirical analysis (author’s own table) .......................... 42 VI Tobias Eichinger 1. Introduction “In challenging times, a strong Union is one that thinks strategically, shares a vision and acts together. This is even more true after the British referendum. […] None of our countries has the strength nor the resources to address these threats and seize the opportunities of our time alone. But as a Union of almost half a billion citizens, our potential is unparalleled.” (European Commission, 2016, p. 3) In 2016, Federica Mogherini, then High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, advocated for a stronger and more united European Union in the light of external but also internal threats, to start off the European Union Global Strategy (EUGS). Publishing a common strategy during arguably one of the most fragile periods