What do ESDP actors want? An exploratory analysis

Abstract

This paper analyzes the preferences of European defense actors vis-à-vis the European security and defense policy (ESDP) with a view to identifying the main ideational points of convergence and fault lines that structure this policy domain. In an exploratory analysis that relies on an original data-set compiled from systematic interviews conducted with 73 ESDP actors in France, the UK, Germany, and Brussels, we address two research questions. First, what do ESDP actors think about ESDP? Second, can we classify their preferences according to sociological factors that underpin the ESDP domain? To conceptualize the belief system of ESDP actors, we propose a typology that distinguishes (1) the social context in which ESDP actors are embedded and (2) the specific ESDP aspects about which preferences are shaped. Our results suggest that both national and occupational variables play an important role in explaining the preferences of ESDP actors.

Keywords:

• European security and defense policy
• social representations
• public opinion
• decision-making

Notes

1. The question was ‘For your organizational unit, which roles should a European security and defense policy have’? One possible answer was ‘There shouldn't be an ESDP’.

2. In contrast to our own questionnaire, this question was subdivided into two subquestions in the Eubarometer survey: (a) ‘In the context of a Common European Security and Defense Policy, who, do you think, should take decisions in case of military intervention: only the governments of the countries that are willing to send troops or all member countries of the European Union, including those who are not willing to send troops'? (b) ‘(If EU in Question 5.a) How should these decisions be made within the European Union’?

3. Although suggestive, this comparison should be interpreted with caution since the Eurobarometer sample contained a much higher proportion of respondents who did not support ESDP. The respondents included in the analysis represent 35% of the total Eurobarometer sample size while 98% of ESDP actors interviewed are included in the analysis.