The EU?s Common Foreign and Security Policy In the Post-September 11 Era: "The Utility of a Constructivist Approach"

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The EU?s Common Foreign and Security Policy has been described as flawed or even non-existing by many critics due to its intergovernmentalist nature. One of the latest incidents illustrating the CFSP?s malfunction came about in 2003 after the US decided to engage in a war against Iraq. The failure of the EU to generate a unified stance regarding the decision on how to act in Iraq was put forward as one of the most striking examples crystallizing the division within the EU due to the member states? tendency to prioritize their self-interest. This study adopts a different perspective as it makes an analysis of the CFSP developments going back to very beginning of this period, namely 11 September 2001. Moving along a chronological chain of events, it examines the developments within the EU during September 11, the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq War respectively through both rationalist ?Liberal Intergovernmentalism? and constructivist ?Europeanization Theory? perspectives. By adducing several official declarations issued by the EU and the member states, it concludes that although the post-September 11 period may seem to have sharpened the flaws in the CFSP as it crystallized the division within the EU members; that is not to deny the fact that the EU has achieved integration, to a certain extent, in the ...