Stabilisation and Association: A Contradictory Security Strategy for the Future of Europe?

The European Union’s greatest achievement – it is widely believed – is the peace that has persisted between its members, many of who have long histories of animosity and violent conflict between them. The Union’s most successful foreign policy – it is argued in tune – is the spread of European stability to new member states. The principle of stabilisation through association has laid foundations not only for the Union’s enlargement but also for initiatives like the European Neighbourhood Policy and the European Security Strategy. These, like the Union’s previous stabilisation initiatives, build on the belief that protracted conflicts between fierce enemies can be managed and ultimately transformed through association processes believed to bring peace to unstable regions. This paper traces European stabilisation and association processes from the early integration of the French and German economies, through the re-integration of former dictatorships and the uniting of East and Western Europe, to EU enlargement policies linked to conflict management in the Balkans and European initiatives related to on-going conflicts in Ukraine, Moldova and the South Caucasus. The purpose of this endeavour is to examine whether, as Brussels assumes, association necessarily brings stabilisation – and thus is a viable strategy for the future.