The CESDP and the Forging of a European Security Culture

The forging of a European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) will require the parallel construction of the basic elements of a European security culture. For the foreseeable future, this will be limited to situation assessment, approaches to problem solving and policy making, and strategic objectives. However, it must also involve a gradual reduction in the divergent patterns that have hitherto marked the approaches of EU Member States, whether allies and neutrals, Atlanticists and Europeanists, those favoring power projection and those prioritizing territorial defense, those emphasizing military as opposed to civilian instruments, large and small states, weapons systems providers and weapons systems consumers, and nuclear and non-nuclear states. This paper assesses the challenge of narrowing those gaps in the process of creating a workable ESDP.