EUROPEAN DEFENCE INTEGRATION AND EUROPEAN STRATEGIC AUTONOMY A qualitative content analysis of the Strategic Compass

Sammanfattning

European defence integration has risen to become one of the most central debates in theEuropean Union. Debates on European defence integration involve European strategicautonomy, an ambiguous concept with different understandings in which are debated bothpolitically and academically. By applying the theories of neofunctionalism and LiberalIntergovernmentalism, the thesis aims to highlight supranational and intergovernmental driversof European defence integration. In doing so, it can provide a foundation to understand theconcept of European strategic autonomy. Although previous research has not yet analysedEuropean defence integration through theories with rivalling perspectives, it shows thatstudying both supranationalism and intergovernmentalism in European defence is important,since the relationship between supranationalism and intergovernmentalism is puzzling. Thus,this thesis analyses the case of the Strategic Compass for security and defence, since it is closelyconnected to both European defence integration and European strategic autonomy. Aqualitative content analysis of the Strategic Compass is conducted to address the gap in previousresearch. The results show that there is an embeddedness within European defence integration,with coexisting supranationalism and intergovernmentalism. The European Commission hasmanaged to gain influence in European defence, and the results show that it may stem fromcommon interests, both from Member States and EU-institutions. This enables theoreticalexplanations for understanding European strategic autonomy in two separate ways.