Germany and European Security and Defence Cooperation: The Europeanization of National Crisis Management Policies?

This article analyses German preferences towards the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The lens of Europeanization, which traces both the top-down and the bottom-up influences between the European and the national levels, makes it possible to highlight the ways in which Germany was able to shape — and was shaped by — these two institutions. The analysis of decisions taken by the Schröder government in relation to the crisis in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and the war in Afghanistan in particular shows that, although moves towards the Europeanization of national foreign policy can be observed, transatlantic relations and national biases determined policy choices that involved the use of military force. The article concludes that although there is evidence of Europeanization of German foreign policy, the continuing influence of both NATO and domestic factors on policy outcomes means that conclusions regarding the Europeanization of national foreign policy can be easily overstated, particularly when it comes to the use of military force.