After The Cold War Between The Eu And Nato Defense Relations Exploration,

During the Cold War period, trapped by the confrontation of the US and the Soviet Union, the European Community focused on economic construction and had to depend on the NATO led by the US as its protective umbrella. The NATO and the EC, therefore, worked in the field of security and economy respectively, and little conflicts occurred. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the traditional security threats for Europe no longer existed, while the non-traditional threats around sprung up. Under this background, the EU restarted the long-dormant security and defense integration process, and makes some progress thereafter. In response, the NATO's attitude seemed to be complicated. On the one hand, it tried to continue to play a leading role in European security affairs; in the meantime, it did not want to assume too much responsibility. Consequently, the bilateral relationships underwent ups and downs.Based on the development that EU and NATO have achieved in the security field, the thesis will review and compare them from the aspect of the identification of threats, the military ability and the organizational structure and the decision-making model. Further, the thesis will analyze the underlying causes that lead to the differences above and the impacts that those differences will make on the EU and NATO's role in the European security and defense.Based on the analysis above, the thesis comes to the conclusion that currently the EU is unable to compete with NATO in terms of military ability and organizational structure, so the EU still need the help from the US-led NATO to handle the crisis in Europe. However, in terms of strategic scope for two organizations, some divergences appear. The NATO has the tendency of globalization, and its military resources have been decentralized from Europe; by contrary, the EU focuses its independent defense forces on its surrounding region. Therefore, although the strategic partnership has been established between the EU and the NATO, it does not demonstrate that the differences on the issue of defense and security can be resolved fundamentally.There is no denying that the EU's role in European security affairs is increasing gradually, although currently it can not play the leading role. That whether and when EU can have the access to the leadership of European security not only depends on the development of EU's defense, but also on NATO's strategic adjustment and the coordination between two organizations.