EU military and civilian missions and operations: their place on Lund’s curve of conflict

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2866016 492 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Environmental, Disasters and Crises Management Strategies
Library of the School of Science
Deposit date:
2019-03-13
Year:
2019
Author:
Grammis Konstantinos
Supervisors info:
Β. Μαρτζάκλης, PhDc, MSc, Αξιωματικός Πυροσβεστικού Σώματος
Δρ. Σ. Μπλαβούκος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής ΟΠΑ
Δρ. Ε. Λέκκας, Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Σ. Λόζιος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Πολιτικές αποστολές και στρατιωτικές επιχειρήσεις της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης: θέση τους στην καμπύλη των συγκρούσεων του Lund
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
EU military and civilian missions and operations: their place on Lund’s curve of conflict
Summary:
The present study aims at presenting the current EU political missions and military missions and operations, and at placing them on Dr. Michael Lund’s curve of conflicts. The EU perceives itself as a global player that has to enhance its capabilities so as to be able to respond to the current challenges. EU missions and operations are mainly civilian, are focused primarily on capacity building, and deal with soft security issues such as illegal trafficking. EU Global Strategy encompasses the ambition of the EU to participate in all kinds of conflicts. However, at the same time, EU nations prefer to contribute to NATO missions, ad hoc coalitions, or UN operations, in a permissive environment.
In the beginning, the study sets the general framework of the international environment after the end of the Cold War, and reviews concepts and policies related to conflicts. In the 90s, the traditional threats stepped back and new non-state actors emerged. This development grayed out the limits between internal and external security. It has been noted that even the democratic values and structures can produce interstate and intrastate tension that may result in violence or conflict. Lack of timely and effective action usually prolongs crises, upscales polarization, and makes conflict resolution difficult. The US Department of State asked from the US Institute of Peace to submit a study on the effect of preventive diplomacy on conflict resolution, and that study was assigned to Dr. Lund’s team.
Afterwards, the study scrutinises facets of conflicts in international relations. Specifically, it explains the meaning of preventive diplomacy and ways of its application. It also introduces the concept, the components, and the classification of interstate and intrastate conflicts. It is concluded that both preventive diplomacy and conflicts cannot be clearly defined.
Following, the study presents contemporary models on the conflict life cycle and stages. Emphasis is given to Lund’s model of a typical conflict with an ideal life history. It is clear that Lund’s curve of conflicts includes the early and the late stages of a conflict in order to emphasize the importance of preventive actions and early warning. That model also contains the lowest level of durable peace to highlight the need for finding the root causes of a conflict. Lund stresses the fact that preventive diplomacy should be exercised in all spectrum, from peacetime to post-conflict situations. The main utility of Lund’s model lays with the visualization of the preventive measures and actions of each stage and phase.
Subsequently, the study reviews the development of CFSP and CSDP through the European and American initiatives to accomplish a common European Defence. Significance is given to Cold War era, the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Lisbon, Petersberg Tasks, Saint Malo Declaration, and Berlin Plus agreement. Article 43 of the Treaty of Lisbon defines that the missions and operations the EU can undertake, are: joint disarmament operations, humanitarian and rescue tasks, military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention and peacekeeping tasks and, tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peacemaking and post-conflict stabilization.
The paper also stresses the importance of the EU Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy. The Global Strategy is a useful toolbox as it gives the EU the ability to choose between using NATO’s structure and facilities, or CSDP. EUGS calls for EU strategic autonomy with upgraded defence capabilities, independent foreign and defence policy, security outside the EU borders, state and society resilience, and pre-emptive peace.
Thereafter, the study expands the categories that are included in Article 43 of the Treaty of Lisbon and examines whether the EU has the proper abilities and capabilities to execute those missions. It is obvious that the EU can take on missions and operations when tension and danger are low, and, subsequently, there is no need for special military capabilities.
In the end, it analyzes the current 11 political missions and 6 military missions and operations of the EU, and lays them on Lund’s curve of conflicts, depending on the stage and phase they belong to. Most of the missions and operations fall within the post-conflict phase, when only 2 refer to the early phase of a conflict. Also, all missions and operations are found either in the unstable peace stage, or in the crisis stage.
It is concluded that the EU is not yet capable of dealing with situations right after the end of a conflict, when the tension is still high. This could be explained as a lack of military capabilities and/or lack of political will. The analysis verifies the prevailing view that the EU has mainly capabilities to cope with missions in peacetime, or when the tension is low or decreases. The study also shows that the EU political and military missions and operations are not noticeable for their preventive nature, and are mostly looking for post-conflict deterrence of conflict re-escalation. Nevertheless, EU is a legitimate international actor that operates upon the values and principles of the UN Charter, often in areas and under situations unreachable for the other international organizations.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
European Union, civilian missions, military operations, preventive diplomacy, the Lund curve
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
198
Number of pages:
134
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