EU Civilian Crisis Management: The Record So Far

摘要

Since the end of the Cold War, the value of civilians in postconflict stabilization has become increasingly clear. As a result, beginning in 2003, the European Union began deploying civilian missions under the auspices of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). Many experts believe that the European Union has a special role to play in civilian work around the world. Some have argued that the multidimensional nature of the EU makes it inherently better suited for civilian work when compared with NATO, whose mission has historically been military in nature. Others argue that, even if NATO were able to undertake civilian work in crisis zones, the EU would still have a comparative advantage, given that it will never develop military capabilities on par with NATO. From this perspective, encouraging the EU's civilian capabilities will also help ensure complementarity between the two organizations and thereby, perhaps, better overall transatlantic security cooperation. But how well suited is the EU, in reality, to civilian work. What does the empirical record show. What does the future look like. This report takes up these and related issues. Intended primarily for a U.S. policy audience, it offers a general overview and assessment of the EU's civilian operations to date, as well as a more in-depth look at the two missions in which the EU has worked alongside NATO: Afghanistan and Kosovo. These two missions are also the EU's most ambitious civilian missions and are useful for comparison, since one is widely viewed as underperforming (the EU Police Mission in Afghanistan EUPOL Afghanistan), while the other could still succeed (the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo EULEX Kosovo). This report offers a preliminary assessment of what the EU has done so far in the civilian field, with an eye to improving the planning and coordination of U.S.-EU efforts, within NATO and beyond.