The European Union, the ESDP, and the question of Turkey /

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1164519 (Table of Contents)

This paper analyses the potential contribution in terms of crude capabilities that Turkey could bring to the European Union’s ESDP security framework. The history of the European Union’s security aspirations and the security policy preferences of the major actors in European security will also be examined as a way of framing the question of Turkey's potential role within the emerging European security and defense framework. The second chapter will look at how European security has evolved from the American-led institutions of the Cold War era to a new post-Cold War dynamic which has opened a window of opportunity for European security realignment, development, and autonomy. The third chapter, on the security and defense preferences of the US and EU members states, makes use of rationalist theory to highlight how national security and defense preferences of the individual EU member states shape the ongoing dispute within the EU over the ultimate goals of the ESDP. In the fourth chapter, the paper will examine Turkey's potential contributions to the European Union’s ESDP and address Turkey's changing role in European security in the post-Cold War era. It posits that, as the EU has begun to develop an independent ‘hard’ security aspect through the ESDP, the strategic value of Turkish inclusion has increased. In concluding, it argues that, while Turkish incorporation into the ESDP would entail new security risks, it would also enhance the Union's military capabilities and role in a number of important regions on Europe's periphery. In essence, the inclusion of Turkey could make the EU’s bid to become a more involved and independent world actor more feasible.