The Rise of European Security Cooperation

by Seth G. Jones

One of the most striking developments in recent international politics has been the significant increase in security cooperation among European Union states. Seth Jones argues that this increase in cooperation, in areas such as economic sanctions, weapons production and collaboration among military forces, has occurred because of the changing structure of the international and regional systems. Since the end of the Cold War, the international system has shifted from a bipolar to a unipolar structure characterized by United States dominance. This has caused EU states to cooperate in the security realm to increase their ability to project power abroad and to decrease reliance on the US. Furthermore, European leaders in the early 1990s adopted a 'binding' strategy to ensure long-term peace on the continent, suggesting that security cooperation is caused by a desire to preserve peace in Europe whilst building power abroad.

310 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2006

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This challenging and superbly-researched book shows that reports of Europe’s strategic irrelevance have been greatly exaggerated. … Anyone who thinks that Europe is destined to remain Washington’s ‘junior partner’ should read this clear, comprehensive and convincing book.’

Stephen M. Walt. Harvard, author of Taming American Power

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There is a quiet revolution going on in the European Union today: the states that comprise it are engaging in extensive cooperation on security matters. In this excellent study, Seth Jones delineates the causes, contours, and consequences of this revolution, as well as the trouble that it portends for US-European relations.

Robert J. Art, Brandeis University and Research Associate at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University

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Seth Jones’s newest work accomplishes one of the rarest feats: it offers sharp, counterintuitive analysis that is amply researched and elegantly argued. Jones not only offers a convincing analysis of the forces that have encouraged European security cooperation, but he leaves his reader with a solid grasp of its future dimensions. The Rise of European Security Cooperation is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the surprising underpinnings of Europe’s security cooperation - past, present or future.
William J. Dobson - Managing Editor of Foreign Policy

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A political scientist at the RAND Corporation, Jones takes issue with the widespread view (particularly prevalent in the United States) that European security cooperation has been a failure. Thoroughly examining post-Cold War European cooperation on security institutions, economic sanctions, arms production, and military forces, he argues that such skepticism is misplaced: European security cooperation is ‘one of the most striking developments in international politics today.’
Philip H. Gordon, Foreign Affairs

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One of the most striking developments in recent international politics has been the significant increase in security cooperation among European Union states. Seth Jones argues that this increase in cooperation, in areas such as economic sanctions, weapons production and collaboration among military forces, has occurred because of the changing structure of the international and regional systems.

Since the end of the Cold War, the international system has shifted from a bipolar to a unipolar structure characterized by United States dominance.

This has caused EU states to cooperate in the security realm to increase their ability to project power abroad and to decrease reliance on the US.

Furthermore, European leaders in the early 1990s adopted a 'binding' strategy to ensure long-term peace on the continent, suggesting that security cooperation is caused by a desire to preserve peace in Europe whilst building power abroad.