This edited volume explores the significance of the early 'Helsinki process' as a means of redefining and broadening the concept of security during the latter half of the Cold War. The early Helsinki process introduced innovative confidence-building measures, and made human rights a requirement of a legitimate and well-functioning international system, thus providing the framework for disarmament in Europe in the mid-1980s, as well as the inspiration for the later demise of Communism in Europe. Using newly declassified archives, the book explores the positions of the two superpowers and the crucial impact of European Community member states, which introduced European values into the Cold War debate on security. It also shows how Eastern and Central European nations, such as Poland, did not restrict themselves to providing support to Moscow but, rather, pursued interests of their own. The volume sheds light on the complementary role of the neutrals as mediators and special negotiators in the multilateral negotiations; on the interdependence of politics and economics; and on the link between military security and the CSCE process.

Based on newly declassified documents, this edited volume explores the significance of the earlyHelsinki process as a means of redefining and broadening the concept of security during the latter half of the Cold War.

The European Security Strategy (ESS) has become an important reference framework for the EU since its inception in 2003. Without strategy an actor can only really be a ‘reactor’ to events and developments. In the ESS the EU now has a strategy, with which it has the potential of shifting boundaries and shaping the World. This volume explores this statement and examines the underlying concepts and implementation of the ESS as a judging tool of all the European Union’s external actions. Contributors, closely involved in the early debate leading up to the ESS, assess questions such as how the strategy has shaped EU policy, how it relates to existing policies but also how it has added value to these policies and whether the strategy’s objectives are sufficient to safeguard EU interests or whether they should be reviewed and added too. The outline of the strategy itself is followed; addressing its historical and conceptual context, the threat assessment, the multilateral and regional policies of the EU, its military capabilities and its strategic partnerships. This book offers a comprehensive vision of how the EU can achieve the ambitious objectives of the European Security Strategy and become an effective global actor as the strategy helps to forge a global Europe. The EU and the European Security Strategy will be of great interest to students and researchers of European politics and security studies.

The emergence of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) in the last two-thirds of the 1990s and continuing into the new century, has been a complex process intertwining politics, economics, national cultures, and numerous institutions. This book provides an essential background for understanding how security issues as between NATO and the European Union are being posed for the early part of the 21st century, including the new circumstances following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. This study should be of interest to those interested in the evolution of U.S.-European relations, especially in, but not limited to, the security field; the development of institutional relationships; and key choices that lie ahead in regard to these critical arrangements.

European Security in the New Political Environment provides a thorough analysis of the detail and nature of post-Cold War security issues, from both traditional and new security agendas, assessing the current efficacy of current institutions and policies to address these issues.

Contributors to this volume evaluate reforms in NATO, the new European Union, and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in view of the failure of the US and European allies to agree on a new security system to deal with issues such as war in the former Yugoslavia, troubles in Eastern Europe and instability in Russia. The policies of key allies are analyzed and pragmatic political initiatives are suggested for strengthening these groups. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book focuses on the problems of, and prospects for, strengthening the global system of security governance in a manner consistent with the aspirations and practices of the EU. The EU approach to security governance has been successful in its immediate neighbourhood: it has successfully exported its preferred norms and principles to applicant countries, thereby 'pacifying' its immediate neighbourhood and making all of Europe more secure. The EU governance orientation ultimately seeks to enlarge the European security community and expand the geopolitical area within which armed conflicts are inconceivable, and where state and private actors converge around a set of norms and rules of behaviour and engagement. The EU's success along its immediate boundaries has not yet been replicated on a global scale; it remains an open question whether the EU system of governance can be exported globally, owing to different normative structures (for example, a tolerance of armed conflict or non-democratic governance internally), great-power competition (such as US--China), or ongoing processes of securitization that has made it difficult to find a commonly accepted definition of security. Moreover, the EU system of security governance clashes with the continuing unwillingness of other major powers to cede or pool sovereignty as well as varying preferences for unilateral as opposed to multilateral forms of statecraft. This edited volume addresses both the practical and political aspects of security governance and the barriers to the globalization of the EU system of security governance, particularly in the multipolar post-Cold War era. This book will be of great interest to students of security governance, EU politics, European Security and IR in general. James Sperling is Professor of Political Science at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA. Jan Hallenberg is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Security and Strategic Studies, Swedish National Defence College. Charlotte Wagnsson is Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategic and Security Studies at the Swedish National Defence College.