The UK and EU Foreign, Security and Defence Policy after Brexit: Integrated, Associated or Detached?

Richard G Whitman

doi:10.1177/002795011623800114

Abstract

None of the existing models for the future trade policy relationship between the UK and the EU come with a predetermined foreign and security policy relationship. This article assesses how the future EU-UK foreign and security policy relationship might be organised post-Brexit. It provides evaluation of the current EU-UK interrelationship in the fields of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and assesses the degree to which the UK is presently integrated into EU decision-making and implementation. It highlights that the UK needs to determine the degree to which it wants autonomy or even divergence from existing EU policies. The article concludes by rehearsing the costs and benefits of three possible future relationships between the UK and EU foreign, security and defence policy: integrated, associated or detached.

Highlights

In the aftermath of the June 2016 EU Referendum result the majority of attention has focused on what might be the future economic relationship between the UK and the EU and the prospects for the UK’s trade relationships with third countries once outside the EU
This article focuses on the implications of Brexit for the UK’s foreign, security and defence policy
Exiting the EU presents the prospect of a major rethink in the aims and ambitions for Britain’s place in the world and has implications for the conduct of British diplomacy and will impinge on security and defence policy (Whitman, 2016a, b)

Summary

UK as the designated lead state

Sources: SIPRI Armaments, Disarmament and International Security Yearbook 2004–2015, Oxford: Oxford University Press. European External Action Service (2016), CSDP Missions and Operation, available at: http://www.eeas. Note: Designated lead states are those that either have operational control or contribute the most personnel in missions with a military or police component. R48 National Institute Economic Review No 238 November 2016 autonomy from the EU in foreign and security policymaking processes and the extent to which it might envisage national policies diverging from the portfolio of existing EU policies. Three alternative scenarios of the future foreign, security and defence relationship between the UK and the EU might be envisaged: integrated player, associated partner, detached observer

Integrated player

Associated partner

Framework Participation

Conclusion