The european union and human security: The making of a global security actor

Human security has been an important part of the rapid developments in the external relations of the European Union and its role in contributing to global security in the first decade of the twenty-first century. But it was a concept which did not speak its name. When we talk about human security and the EU, the most apparent problem is that officially it did not exist as a distinct policy or as a label for an external mission. Rather, it was an approach which informed and guided what the EU did, and which could be inferred from the aims of its policies and the methods it used to achieve them. Three key ideas and one event drove the EU’s increasing activity in ensuring global security after September 11 2001. The drivers were first the need to develop a collective response to the challenges of the post Cold-war era, and to the threat posed by international terrorism. The EU also had to react to crises in many parts of the world, from Asia to Africa and to Europe’s nearest neighbourhoods in North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus, which threatened European interests. Rather than acting alone, EU member states had to show that by combining their efforts and resources they could create a powerful and positive new element in international diplomacy and security. Secondly, Europe had to represent a distinctive form of action. The EU was not a nation state. It was a peace project which grew from a legacy of war, but it was not set up to provide traditional forms of security and defence, which meant protecting territory and sovereignty. It could act without the classical motivations of defending borders and territorial rights, in order to promote peace, democracy and human rights. It could do so using instruments and resources which were also different from national armies. It offered security through negotiation, governance assistance, rule of law measures and economic aid. In wars where there is no longer a front line and the sources of conflict are deep rooted, we have learned that there is no simple division or sequencing between military and civilian assistance. Our capabilities had to allow us to respond to a conflict cycle of prevention, management and reconstruction deploying for not only the military phase of crisis management but also civilians to deal with stabilisation and reconstruction efforts according to the demands of each crisis on the ground.