Security Cooperation within the European Union
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Date
2014-12-30
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Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
This thesis examines different elements of security cooperation and intelligence sharing within the European Union. The first chapter examines how the growth of the European Union has affected security cooperation among member states post-Cold War through the examination of the creation of security based institutions, weapons policies, and military forces and capabilities. The finding of this chapter is that the growth of the European Union has increased security cooperation among member states. The second chapter of this thesis compares intelligence sharing between the European Union and NATO. To determine which organization’s intelligence sharing was more effective, the chapter examines the actors and relationships, trust, institutions, infrastructure, and resources of each organization as compared to their ability to bolster or hinder intelligence sharing amongst member states. The conclusion of this chapter is that despite being roughly the same sized organization, NATO enjoys a greater level of intelligence sharing than the members of the European Union due to the level of mistrust, voluntary participation, and restricted intelligence dissemination process of the European Union. The third and final chapter determines if the economic crises of states within the European Union have had an adverse effect on security cooperation among member states. This is determined by examining the particulars of each country’s economic crisis and bailout, defense spending, and governmental social spending prior to, during, and after the economic crisis. The finding of this chapter is that the economic crises did have an adverse affect on security cooperation. The amount of impact that economic crises had on security cooperation varied in each case study. Overall the three chapters of this portfolio highlight a number of factors that affect security cooperation within the European Union.
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Security Cooperation