Oasis or Mirage? EU European Security and Strategic Culture

Abstract

“All my experiences from this time deeply influenced the rest of my life, and it became clear to me that the era of war in Europe must be banished for all time.”1 So reflected former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on the powerful impact that the experiences of the Second World War had on him and his commitment to European integration. Much has been written on how catastrophic experiences can be the instigators for identity change. The shock of two world wars fought by Europeans on European soil and the excesses of National Socialism changed fundamental beliefs about self-identity and war-fighting for many Europeans. This chapter analyzes the foundational security beliefs that help explain how EU definitions of threat and the values associated with war-fighting changed, and why the EU security culture model has appeared to define them so much differently than does the United States. Collectively held EU European beliefs concerning the nature of threat, and values associated with the legitimacy of war-fighting, with special emphasis on those of political elites, will be examined.