European Defense Cooperation: Asset or Threat to NATO?

by Michael E. Quinlan

This study surveys post World War II efforts to enhance practical cooperation among European countries in the provision and use of military forces. The author, a distinguished former defense official of the U.K., begins with the earliest proposals for cooperation in 1947 and provides a succinct summary of collective security efforts since then. The main focus of the study is the European Defense and Security Policy (EDSP) project launched by European Union heads of government at their Cologne meeting in June 1999. Quinlan reviews the major issues and future prospects regarding this important initiative, and argues for a collective European defense that will complement but not supersede the role of NATO.

European Defense Cooperation is the first title in the Wilson Forum series from Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

102 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2001

About the author

Sir Michael Edward Quinlan, GCB.

A graduate of the Jesuits' Wimbledon College, he subsequently entered Merton College, University of Oxford where he earned a degree in Classics.

Widely respected and long-time British civil servant at the Ministry of Defence known for his thoughtful analysis of the UK's defence policy, nuclear weapons issues, ethics, and "just war" theory. He served as Permanent Under-Secretary of the British Ministry of Defence from 1988-1992.

He helped found the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College, University of London in 1990 and became a visiting professor and a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) at King's College.