Western Europe’s Security: a Multidimensional Euro-Atlantic Architecture Publisher: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Lisbon, ISBN 972-31-0993-X, November 2002 Books

Abstract

In Western Europe’s Security: a Multidimensional Euro-Atlantic Architecture the author primarily claims that security must be broaden, i.e., it must comprise new dimensions and share its duties with the State and the non-Westphalian actors, particularly with the IGO’s. In this fashion, the present study hypothesises that the most suitable internal architecture for the Western Europe’ Security is a Euro-Atlantic one, focused on the EU and on the NATO. Such an architecture requires a multidimensional conception of security sustained on a supranational European basis, or else on an original political union basis. Furthermore, the Euro-Atlantic architecture must be articulated with an external world architecture (UN) and a regional one (OSCE), within the scope of a less statecentric and more human security. In order to test the hypothesis just presented, contributions provided by various theoretical approaches, as well as threats to the post-Cold War security, are both analysed and critically assessed. Therefore, one can conclude that the traditional unidimensional concept (military) must be replaced by a new, multidimensional one (military, economic, societal and environmental). Then, a range of theories with proposals concerning Western Europe’Security is discussed and the IGO’s (in which the internal and external architecture finds itself embodied), is analysed. Thus, one comes to the conclusion that the Euro-Atlantic architecture depends on the external world architecture (UN), as a legitimate source for the use of strength (military dimension), and it can, moreover, profit from the external world architecture (UN and specialised institutions) and regional (OSCE), specially when it comes to non-military dimensions of security. Finally and, in addition to what was previously mentioned, it is necessary to provide NATO with a multidimensional conception of security and to broaden the supranational integration of the EU by adding the military dimension, or by turning it into an original political union able to guarantee the European cohesion, the reequilibrium of the Atlantic partnership and the development of the Euro-Atlantic free trade zone, which will prevent the economic dimension from ending up provoking gaps in this architecture.