The European Union's Crisis Management After Lisbon: Addressing New Security Challenges in the 21st Century

Is the EU's post-Lisbon crisis management model adequate to tackle current international security challenges at both the strategic and the operational levels? The Lisbon Treaty has introduced a number of innovations in the field of the EU's crisis management which have the potential to reinvigorate the Union's security actorness, both as a norm setter (model by being) and an operational crisis manager (model by doing). This paper will investigate the prospects for the EU to become a credible security actor in the 21st century in connection with its capacity to: (1) adapt the conceptual framework of its crisis management system to the current security scenario; and (2) implement effective action on the ground. In particular, this analysis will take into consideration three main developments in the global security environment: (1) the rise of new security-political challenges; (2) the evolution of the concept of security; and (3) the proliferation of non-state actors in the field of security.

Versione rivista di un documento presentato alla VI conferenza annuale dell'Italian Standing Group on International Relations su "Regional Orders in the XXI Century", Trento, 20-22 giugno 2013.