Research: Security

A key area of CSEG research relate to the study of the European Union's external security dimension. CSEG members have focused their research on the following issues:

• European Union and global conflict management
• Security cooperation between the European Union and USA

European Union and global conflict management

Can the EU assist in intrastate and interstate conflict management? Under what conditions is the EU more (and less) successful at global conflict management? Why and under which conditions do the EU, France and the UK intervene militarily in African conflict areas? When is European intervention ‘ethical’? How should the EU’s conceptualization of ethnic and cultural diversity be defined in ethnic conflict management and state building? What role do international organizations play in self-determination conflicts?

Research in this area

Catherine Gegout is the principle investigator of the CoReach project on Europe and China: Addressing New International Security and Development Challenges in Africa. This project is conducted jointly with CASS in China and IEP Bordeaux in France (£ 95,890 total, and £39,778.73 for UK partners). The EU-CHINA+AFRICA project analyses how China and the European Union address new international security and development challenges in Africa. It is the underlying assumption of this project that China and Europe are about to face a critical moment due to the impact of the global financial crisis, both outside and within the African continent. These economic problems will also have an impact on European and Chinese involvement in security matters in Africa.

This project is divided into four thematic clusters which are covered over a period of two years:

1. The overall landscape: Decision-making and policy issues
2. Country focused studies
3. Peace, governance and security
4. Investment, trade and sustainable development

In addition, Catherine Gegout, in collaboration with Dr Devon Curtis at University of Cambridge, was also awarded £27,500 by the British Academy for the project 'The EU and Rebel Movements in Africa', which analyses the role of the EU in arbitrating between rebel movements and governments in Africa. Case studies include Uganda, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, DRC and Sudan.

As part of the project, the Centre hosted a conference on this topic with academics from the University of Makerere, Uganda, and the University of Botswana in 2008. Two conferences on ‘Peacekeeping in Africa’ were organised at the University of Botswana and the University of Cambridge in 2009. A final conference on ‘Peacebuilding and Reconstruction in Africa’ will take place in Makerere in December 2010.

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Security cooperation between the European Union and USA 

How has military security cooperation between the US and EU developed since the end of the Cold War? Do the US and the EU agree on security challenges outside of Europe, such as nuclear proliferation and the threat from Iran? How has cooperation adapted with the emergence of new security challenges such as international terrorism and organized crime? How have the EU and EU member states responded to the U.S.’s post-9/11 security concerns?  

These and other questions have been the focus of Professor Wyn Rees' research for some time. He has just completed a book length study on this subject entitled 'The United States-European Union Security Relationship: The Tensions between a European and a Global Agenda', to be published in 2011 by Palgrave/Macmillan. By focusing upon the EU rather than NATO, the study draws attention to the fact that the post-Cold War period heralded both the rise of a series of new security challenges and facilitated the emergence of the EU as an actor of new importance. It contrasts transatlantic cooperation that has focused on the security of Europe, with cooperation relating to the broader global security agenda.

Wyn Rees has also authored a range of other publications in the field of US-European relations. These include: 

'Transatlantic Counter-terrorism Cooperation: The New Imperative' (Routledge, 2006). 

'Securing the Homelands' , The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 11, 1, February 2009.

'The Internationalisation of Law Enforcement' Tin J. Monar (ed) ‘The External Aspects of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice’, Peter Lang, 2009.

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