Civil society and the European common security and defence policy

Abstract

The involvement of civil society organizations (CSOs) is widely regarded by students of the EU's domestic policy fields as enhancing transparency and accountability and, more generally, the democratic quality of political processes. This article explores the contribution of CSOs to the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy and assesses whether a democracy-enhancing effect of their involvement can also be demonstrated for this policy field. We analyse the contribution of CSOs based on two common models of democracy: the intergovernmental and the supranational model of democracy. We find that CSOs are indeed quite actively involved in the EU's security policy. With regard to their democracy-enhancing effects, however, our findings are rather mixed. While the engagement of CSOs does provide a remedy for the democratic deficits associated with intergovernmental decision-making, these organizations do not fully meet the demands posed by supranational governance.

Keywords:

• civil society
• non-governmental organizations
• European security and defence policy
• democracy

Acknowledgments

We presented a previous version of this article at a workshop of the RECON project in Oslo in September 2011. We thank the participants for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Notes on contributors

Matthias Dembinski is Senior Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). His research focuses on EU foreign and security policy and on regional security organizations. He is the co-editor of Die intenationale Organisation des Demokratischen Friedens (Nomos Verlag).

Jutta Joachim is Associate Professor of political science at the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. She is the author of Agenda Setting, the UN, and NGOs Gender Violence and Reproductive Rights (Georgetown University Press) and co-author of International Organizations and Implementation: Enforcers, Managers, Authorities and Transnational Activism in the UN and the EU: A Comparative Study (both Routledge Press).

Notes

1. In practice, the Commission acts beyond these self-defined parameters and consults with ‘interested parties’, which comprise all those who wish to participate.

2. The founding members of ASD were the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA), founded in 1973, the European Defence Industries Group (EDIG), founded in 1976, and Eurospace, founded in 1961.

3. For more information visit www.ngovoice.org.