European Security and Defence Policy

On Wednesday 25 November 2009, the MA European Union Studies and the Montesquieu Institute welcomed Professor dr. Rob de Wijk in their joint European Seminar Lecture Series. Professor De Wijk heads the The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, is professor of International Relations at the Netherlands Defense Academy in Breda and professor of Strategic Studies at Leiden University. His address was titled: “Trends in international security: The case for a stronger ESDP.”

Professor Rob de Wijk calls for a stronger European Security and Defence Policy. Europe cannot live in a post-modernist world when everyone is as political realist

Professor De Wijk started his lecture off by stating “I am sometimes being called the last defender of a European security strategy”. In what followed we were taken on a very insightful tour across our planet, in which we encountered a variety of international security issues on different scales and in different fields. Professor De Wijk first discussed global trends in international relations, borrowing from the US National Intelligence Council report “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World." Most notable amongst the identified trends is perhaps the loss of influence of traditional world players, as a result of the rise of countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. Further, Professor De Wijk identified numerous uncertainties in our contemporary world. The most important of which is the scarcity of natural resources, for instance minerals, the instability of the regions where these resources are found and our industrial dependency on them. Another uncertainty to our world are the so called youth bulges, regions averagely aged between 20-25, which have large potential for internal and external conflicts.

Then, Professor De Wijk gave our globe – or the way we look at it – a spin, arguing that the world map with Europe as the centre is an obsolete political map. The new map should centre around the Pacific Ocean, and its bordering continents of (East-)Asia and (Northern) America. Europe is then moved to the outskirts of this new world of international politics. A strong indicator for this position was the inability of Europe to develop a new European Security Strategy. Wandering past the transformation of the G7 into a caucus within the G20, the decline in the number of inter and intrastate wars, the increasing number of ‘black holes’ in the world, the identification of climate change as a new cause for war (Darfur?), the threats of climate change to heavily populated coastal areas and the need for a transition from our dependency on heavy metals and minerals to other alternatives, we ended up in China, the bank of President Obama. “You do not want to fight your bank.” China, analyzed Professor De Wijk is the only country to have made it key foreign policy to secure its supply of minerals, heavy metals and other natural resources, such as oil and gas. It does so by buying in large in Africa. This is not wrong, Professor De Wijk argued, as China simply needs these resources for its own development. Subsequently, China has become an almost omnipresent power in the Indian Ocean area. Big countries try to shape the world around them. Power, that is what international politics is about. Against the backdrop of these international issues, Professor De Wijk concluded that there is a real necessity to develop further the CFSP and ESDP in order for Europe to become a player on the world stage once more. Whereas the precise role of the newly created European External Action Service under “Lisbon” is not yet defined today, Professor De Wijk expects that its mere existence will lead to new momentum in European external politics. A momentum for developing a new European security strategy.

The lecture kept us talking for a long time afterwards, while enjoyed the “borrel” provided for by the Campus Den Haag and the Montesquieu Institute. It had been an insightful and instructive afternoon. The European Seminar Lecture Series continues on Wednesday 9 December 2009, when we hope to welcome USA expert Willem Post  of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations “ Clingendael” , who will address us on the topic of “President Obama and Europe”.

Steven Reijersen