Europeanisation or “NATO-isation”?

The decade-long military intervention in Afghanistan had a significant effect on the transformation of Western armed forces. This article examines one of the pathways of military change, namely selective emulation. Taken aback by the evolution of fighting in Afghanistan, France, Germany and the UK looked for doctrinal or technical answers to the challenges they were facing on the ground within NATO (the structure and/or the member states). However, the importation of such solutions depends on each national political-military context, in particular proximity with the United States, the existence of a strong local defense industry or a specific strategic culture. After the “Europeanisation without the EU” of the French defence policy in the 1990’s identified by Bastien Irondelle, we now observe a “NATO-isation with NATO” of the three major European military powers’ defence policies, because of the Afghan campaign.