A segurança internacional da Europa

: da paz kantiana à política comum de segurança e defesa

Abstract

This essay aims to analyze Europe’s course from the end of World War II through to the present, evaluating the evolution of its external security (defenses?) over these six decades, and aiming to establish the necessity for the European Union to develop strong and credible military capabilities as a key requirement for its desired role as a world superpower in the context of the current and the future international systems. Let us begin by realizing, as did the seventeenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, that peace is not natural to man, requiring that mankind make an effort not only to achieve it but also to preserve it. Based on this principle, Europe’s course after World War II has been analyzed and evaluated in the context of its attempt to establish lasting peace through the construction of a supranational entity - the European Union - with principles rooted largely in "The Project for Perpetual Peace " by the XVIII century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, analyzing the conscious and/or merely incidental reasons for such developments. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and of the International System of the Cold War, and after the early years of high dreams and disappointments, the EU has finally realized that in order to enact its desired role in the International Milieu, it needs to possess military capabilities respected by those under its influence. In this way begins, through the establishment of the CFSP in 1992, an obstacle-ridden winding path to making the EU a military power, an as-of-yet unfinished journey. After evaluating the pros and cons of this path, as well as the difficulties created by this development, either by outsiders or by those internal to the EU itself, we conclude with an assessment of the Transatlantic Relationship, and more specifically the EU-NATO relationship in the past present and future. We focus mostly on the question of the development of military capabilities by the former and its use in the NATO-EU context, while never disregarding the similarities and complementarities of values between these two organizations, as well as their differences and divergences. Finally, and by way of a conclusion, we have introduced the question of Western Civilization and the necessity for its Paladins, particularly Europe and the United States, to act in unison, not only to preserve the values of their civilizations, but also to achieve and/or maintain their positions as Superpowers in the present and future International Context.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Francisco Proença Garcia (Supervisor)