The Maritime Turn in EU Foreign and Security Policies

Aims, Actors and Mechanisms of Integration

Marianne Riddervold

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319665986
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Politica europea

This book provides the first substantial treatment of the maritime foreign andsecurity policies of the European Union. Its findings add to the literaturebyacomparative, theoretically informed analysis of EU maritime foreign andsecurity policies across five cases: the EU's Maritime Security Strategy and action plan;the EU's two naval missions, Atalanta and Sophia;EU Arctic policies, and;EU policies towards the Maritime Labour Convention. Focusing on theaims, actors and mechanisms of integrationin these cases, the book speaks to thethree main debates in the literature on EU foreign policy, including whether ithas a particular normative dimension that makes it different from foreign policy as it is conventionally understood; the extent to which policy-making in the domainhas developed beyond intergovernmental cooperation and, interlinked; howEU foreign and security policyintegration and its characteristics can be explained. In doing this, the book alsoaddresses a fourthcontemporary scholarly debate linked to if and how the EU is affected by crisis. By focusing on maritime security policies the book also adds to the international relations literature more broadly.

This book is an invaluable resource for scholars, students and practitioners interested in EU foreign and security policy, European and global maritime security issues, EU integration, EU crisis andinternational relations.

Marianne Riddervold is an Associate Professor atInland Norway University of applied sciences, a Senior fellow at UC BerkeleyInstitute of European Studies and a Guest Researcher at ARENA - Centre for European Studies at the University of Oslo.

© The Author(s) 2018

Marianne RiddervoldThe Maritime Turn in EU Foreign and Security Policies https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66598-6_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: A Maritime Foreign and Security Power in the Making?

Marianne Riddervold^{1, 2, 3}

(1)

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Rena, Norway

(2)

Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

(3)

ARENA – Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

End Abstract

1.1 Introduction

International relations are increasingly moving out to sea. It is here, in the disputed territorial maritime borders, harbours, and sea lines around the globe, that many of today’s threats and tensions materialize. Rising powers with expressed territorial interests and a different view on international cooperation and regulation than those typically held by Western states are building up their naval capacities, making claims to territorialize or control strategically important areas at sea: China in the South China seas; Brazil in the South Atlantic; and Russia in the Arctic sea routes and in other areas of naval importance such as Crimea , Ukraine . China and Russia have changed their grand strategies from landward to seaward security, and the US has adapted its strategic focus accordingly. Other security threats, such as international crime and piracy , weapon smuggling, terrorism, environmental changes, and the transport of migrants , are also inextricably linked to the sea in today’s international political and security landscape.

In this changing international environment, an actor that might at first seem like an unlikely maritime power is establishing itself on the global scene: The European Union (EU). Since the launch of the EU’s first naval mission (Atalanta ) in 2008 and the adoption of an Integrated Maritime Policy the same year, maritime security has been amongst the fastest growing areas of EU security integration but still remains underresearched amongst scholars (see, however, Behr et al. 2013; Bosilca 2017 ; Bueger 2015 ; de Nevers 2015 ; Germond 2011, 2015 ; Helly 2009 ; Kluth and Pilegaard 2011 ; Riddervold 2011, 2014). Militarily, the EU is, for example, a main force in the waters off the Horn of Africa. In 2015, it launched a second large naval mission in the Mediterranean in response to the migration crisis (Bosilca 2017 ; Tardy 2015 ). A new EU naval border control system was recently agreed upon (Commission 2015). The EU is also planning for future missions, and its renewed discussions on battle groups and permanent capabilities have a clear naval focus. Shared maritime surveillance capacities and systems are under way ( Germond 2015). In parallel, intensified NATO and EU discussions are increasingly tuned on maritime issues (NATO 2014 ; Germond 2015 ; Riddervold 2014). Politically, the EU is taking a lead role in discussions on pirates and maritime terrorism and is increasingly active in discussions on the future international regulation of the maritime Global Commons (Behr et al. 2013 ; Germond 2015 ; Gulbrandsen 2013 ). A common Arctic policy is in the making. Within the field, the EU member states have bound themselves to common policies, actions, and regulations that have effectively removed their ability to veto. They have allowed a wide number of EU actors such as the European Commission (Commission), the European Defence Agency (EDA) , the EU Military Staff (EUMS) , and the High Representative of the Union for Security and Defence (HR/VP) and her foreign policy service, the European External Action Service (EEAS), to initiate, influence, and even decide upon what policies to conduct collectively.

The development of EU maritime foreign and security policies is puzzling as it challenges both the conventional assumption that EU foreign and security cooperation will be limited and that it in any case will remain intergovernmental (Hoffmann 1966 , 2012; Pollack 1997 ; Tallberg 2003, 2008 ). That developments come within the maritime sector is even more surprising in light of the member states’ traditional reluctance towards integration in this domain. Several member states have strong maritime interests and have been keen to act upon them as they see best, without the interference of supranational institutions or other member states (Germond 2015 ; Gulbrandsen 2013 ; Landmann 2015; Offerdal 2011 ; Riddervold 2016; Weber and Romanyshyn 2011 ). Adding to this, the level of EU maritime security integration, which includes a considerable military component, challenges the commonly held assumption that—to the extent that the EU is at all able to produce a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) —it will act as a ‘soft’ power . In other words, that the EU will use non-military means when pursuing the member states’ interests on the international scene. So why then are we witnessing this extensive development? To what extent, how and why is the EU a maritime foreign and security actor in the making?

1.1.1 Questions and Relevance of the Book

This book aims to answer these questions by conducting a theoretically informed analysis of EU maritime foreign and security policies across five cases: The EU’s Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) and action plan; the EU’s naval missions , EUNAVFOR Somalia Atalanta (Atalanta ) and EUNAVFOR Mediterranean Sophia (Sophia ); EU policies towards the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) under the ILO ; and the EU’s Arctic policies. Through a number of in-depth and comparative studies across these cases, three main empirical questions are addressed in three separate parts of the book:

1. 1.
   What characterizes EU maritime foreign and security policies—what are its aims? Is the EU conducting a norm-based, humanitarian policy or is the EU becoming a traditional maritime great power in the realist sense?
2. 2.
   What is the level of de facto integration within EU maritime foreign and security EU policy? What characterizes policy-making in the domain, and, in particular, what are the roles and influences of the different actors in these processes?
3. 3.
   How can the development and characteristics of EU maritime security policies be explained—what are the drivers or mechanisms of integration in this domain?

In doing this, the book contributes new empirical and analytical knowledge across a variety of fields.

Empirically, the book adds to our knowledge both of EU maritime foreign and security policies and of EU foreign and security policies more generally. Maritime security is amongst the fastest growing areas of EU foreign and security cooperation; it has a global reach and it cuts across a variety of issue areas, sectors, and policy fields. Nonetheless, EU maritime security policy remains understudied. This is the first book studying EU maritime foreign and security policy across cases, and it does so by exploring the main cases of this policy field. It is also the first attempt to systematically conduct a comparative case study of EU maritime security policies from an analytical perspective where alternative theoretical perspectives are applied. In doing this, it explores policy-making processes and the de facto level of integration in this domain, including the role and influence of different actors, it explores the role of norms in EU maritime foreign policies, and it helps explain its rapid development. Discussions on EU maritime security policies have moreover gone beyond pure maritime issues, in many ways upd...