A promise not fulfilled: The (non) implementation of the resilience turn in EU peacebuilding

ABSTRACT

The article provides a critical overview of the rise of resilience at the European Union (EU) level and to what extent its adoption is reshaping the terms of the EU’s peacebuilding interventions. It argues that resilience offers a four-fold contribution to promoting sustainable peace: (1) a focus on complexity; (2) a systems approach; (3) a shift toward local capacities; and (4) an emphasis on human agency. The article then applies this framework to assess the implementation of the EU’s “resilience turn” since the adoption of the EU Global Strategy in 2016. Focusing on the EU’s discourse and its peacebuilding practices in the Western Balkans, the evidence suggests that the EU has only embraced a systems/integrated approach, while neglecting deeper understandings of complexity, local capacities and human agency. As a result, the contribution of resilience to EU peacebuilding remains limited.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• peacebuilding
• resilience
• integrated approach
• Western Balkans
• Bosnia and Herzegovina

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Gilberto Algar-Faria for his fieldwork assistance in the context of a H2020 EU-CIVCAP project (grant agreements no. 653227). The content reflects only the author's views, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jonathan Joseph is Professor of International Relations at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol. His current research looks at the role of the EU in promoting resilience across different policy areas such as development, humanitarian intervention, infrastructure protection, and security policy. These are compared with resilience policies in the UK, US, France and Germany and considered through the conceptual lens of governmentality. His most recent books are Varieties of Resilience: Studies in Governmentality (Cambridge 2018) and Wellbeing, Resilience and Sustainability: The New Trinity of Governance (with Allister McGregor, Palgrave 2019).

Ana E. Juncos is Professor of European Politics at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol. Her primary research interest lies in European foreign and security policy, with a particular focus on the development on the EU’s conflict prevention and crisis management capabilities and its role in conflict resolution. She holds a PhD in Politics, International Relations and European Studies from Loughborough University. She is currently a visiting professor at the EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies Department at the College of Europe. Between 2015 and 2018, she was the Consortium Co-ordinator of the H2020 funded project EU-CIVCAP (www.eu-civcap.net). Previous work includes EU Foreign and Security Policy in Bosnia (Manchester University Press, 2013) and EU Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management (co-edited with Eva Gross, Routledge, 2011).

ORCID

Jonathan Joseph http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-211X

Ana E. Juncos http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6913-351X

Notes

1 This section draws on nine interviews with diplomats and officials from the European Commission (Directorates-General ECHO and DEVCO), European External Action Service, and EU Delegations conducted in September 2017 and January 2018. Interviews are coded to maintain the anonymity of the interviewees.

2 The argument of this section is supported by a range of empirical data derived from documentary analysis of public and semi-confidential EU documents and 20 interviews conducted in Sarajevo and Mostar in November 2016 with EU officials, Bosnian officials, and representatives from civil society organizations. Interviews are coded to maintain the anonymity of the interviewees.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article has received funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 653227.