Europe without the United States? Prospects for European Defense Cooperation after the 1996 European Union Intergovernmental Conference
Abstract
Europe is still organized for the Cold War. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remains the key security institution, and the United States is still deeply involved in European defense activities. In 1991, however, a framework for change was approved at the NATO summit in Rome and the European Community (EC) summit in Maastricht that pointed to a less military and more political role for NATO and toward greater defense involvement by exclusively European organizations, such as the EC -- now known as the European Union (EU) -- and the Western European Union (WEU). This article provides a brief history of autonomous European defense efforts and focuses on the next big opportunity for institutional change in Europe, the 1996 EU intergovernmental conference (IGC). While conventional wisdom suggests that the conference will bring about only modest modifications to existing arrangements, more significant advances are possible. The Euro-Atlantic unity forged by the Cold War is now a distant memory, and American interest in European problems is flagging despite NATO's recent vitality and the current U.S. political and military commitment to Bosnia. Western Europe's developing ties with the former Soviet bloc and increasing recognition of common interests encourage a new look at Europe's security architecture. "Maastricht II," as the upcoming IGC is sometimes called, could be the break from past arrangements that some scholars and political leaders have been predicting ever since the Cold War ended.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA529520
Entities
People
- Charles Krupnick
Organizations
- United States Air Force Academy