Europe’s Common Security and Defense Policy, Narratives and the Transatlantic Security Community: An analysis of the EU’s recent CSDPs regarding their justifications from 2016 to 2020

Abstract

Since the two narratives of strategic autonomy and European sovereignty first appeared in the EU in 2016 and 2017, they have been omnipresent. At the same time, Donald Trump was elected as U.S. president and a series of difficulties in transatlantic relations began. Although transatlantic relations have been tumultuous in the past, statements by experts and leaders prompt speculation that the Transatlantic Security Community (TSC) has undergone deeper changes this time around. In terms of this change, this thesis examines to what extent the EU’s recent Common Security and Defense policies (CSDPs) have been justified in terms of a changing TSC. In order to answer this question, the first part of this thesis examines the literature of security communities and the role of discourse from a social constructivist point of view. The subsequent methodological part lays out the procedure of the conducted qualitative content analysis in order to present on this theoretical and methodological basis the results of the analysis. In doing so, it becomes clear that the TSC is not the only explanation for the EU’s recent CSDPs, but is merely one of many. This can be traced back to the fact that the EU does not have a unified definition and conception for strategic autonomy and European sovereignty, which in turn seems to have implications for implementation.