Beyond material factors? Identity, culture and the foreign and security policy of the EU

Abstract

The evolution of European integration in the field foreign, security and defence policy and the coordination practices established by EU member states cannot be fully explained by looking at material factors only. The chapter adds to the picture the importance of identity, and, in particular, the we-feeling typical of belonging to a security community and security culture in the evolution of the practices adopted for the international projection of the EU and its member states. In consideration of the importance that support to the UN has acquired since the 2003 ESS, both as a strategic priority and as a constitutive element of the EU identity, the chapter focuses on the coordination practices adopted by EU member states in the UN General Assembly.