The Military Balance 2023 Studies, The International Institute for Strategic (IISS)
2023, 2023-02-15
eBook
The Military Balance has been published annually since 1959. The 2023 edition provides an open-source assessment of the armed forces and equipment inventories of 173 countries, with accompanying ...defence economics data. Alongside detailed country data, The Military Balance assesses important military issues, region-by-region, and includes graphics to illustrate these as well as noteworthy equipment developments. Maps this year include a focus on Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and select China-Russia military cooperation activities. The book draws on the range of data carried in the Military Balance+ online database, particularly the procurement features in each regional section. The accompanying wallchart explores the military use of outer space, an increasingly important element of defence capabilities, focusing on China, Russia and the United States. For those involved in defence and security policymaking, analysis and research, The Military Balance is an indispensable source.
This article discusses the main tenets of Georgian national defence policy planning, as well as the institutional mechanisms that are essential for the management and governance of Georgian state ...defence. The scope of this article references the policy planning documentation at both the national level (via the Parliament or the Cabinet of Ministers, of the Government) and agency level(via the Cabinet of Ministers, or other heads of administrative entities), which pertain to the structure and hierarchy of state institutions as well as the peculiarities of their interaction. Additionally, a discussion of the competencies involved in defence policy planning, with respect to the separation of powers among state institutions, policy planning horizons, characteristics of intermediate stage plans,as well as the methodology involved in defence policy planning. In terms of the overall extent of defence policy planning, the objective of this article is to analyse concepts and factors, which from past observation can be identified as being constructive, or obstructive. Such analysis may help to formulate a more effective way forwards, firstly in terms of recommendations for reshaping the existing national defence policy planning model and ultimately in terms of the realisation of a more effective state governance model.
Abstract
The paper debates the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the relationship between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union’s Common Security and Defence ...Policy (CSDP). It argues that the invasion has changed dramatically Europe’s security landscape, carrying major implications for both organizations and their relationship. After its withdrawal from Afghanistan and deepening frictions between the US and its European allies about burden-sharing, the war instilled a new sense of purpose into NATO, placing renewed emphasis on its core functions of territorial defense and deterrence. However, the war was also a reality check for the EU, raising important questions about the future of the European security architecture, the Union’s role within it, and its relationship with NATO (hereafter also referred to as the Alliance). The aim of this article is to try to answer some of these questions, by providing an initial assessment of the impact of the war on the relationship between NATO and the CSDP, and to sketch out potential avenues for strengthening the EU’s role in transatlantic security. More specifically, the paper will try to answer the following questions: what are the implications of the conflict on the Alliance? How did the war impact on the CSDP and the Union’s aspiration to strategic autonomy? Where is EU-NATO cooperation heading as a result of the war? Will the conflict ramp up cooperation between the two organizations or will European defence efforts be channelled mostly through NATO? Will EU leaders grab the momentum created by the war to further institutional integration also in security and defence and or will the war turn into another missed opportunity to promote a more effective burden-sharing in transatlantic security?
Given the push to strengthen European defence cooperation, the topic of whether a European strategic culture is emerging has become widely contested. Since convergence between member states is the ...key that would unlock the way to a European strategic culture, this paper examines how they perceive crucial aspects of strategic culture and in what aspects they have converged and diverged. This study selected Germany, Poland, and Ireland as cases of the EU-27 member states. It compared the three national strategic cultures in three aspects: strategic environment, cooperation patterns, and strategic goals and means, by conducting a computer-based content analysis of strategic documents and official speeches of high-level national policymakers between 2000 and 2020. This study found that despite the persistent divergence in strategic goals and means, the three countries have shown greater convergence in their perceptions of the strategic environment and that while their preferences on cooperation patterns are largely unchanged, they seem to be accepting the EU as a legitimate and favourable platform for security and defence cooperation. These findings suggest that the prospects for the emergence of a European strategic culture and further developments of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy are both challenging and promising.
The EU's Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy is based on five pillars, one of which prioritizes state and societal resilience to the East and South. However, the promotion of state and ...societal resilience in its vicinity is not portrayed as a totally altruistic policy, being motivated also by rational considerations, as fragility beyond borders threatens the EU's vital interests, while a resilient state is a secure state, and security is crucial for prosperity and democracy. Accordingly, the current article has set as its main objectives the deciphering of what the European Community understands by state and societal resilience in its neighbourhood, and what mix of instruments is using for achieving it. We have chosen as our case study to examine the efficiency of the EUAM mission in resilience building in Ukraine. Within these lines we advance a multifaceted approach to resilience, as in our opinion, stability and prosperity in the Eastern vicinity cannot be achieved only through Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreements, cross-border cooperation projects, various ENP instruments, but also through more active diplomacy, preventive measures and engagement in crises and conflict management under the auspices of the Common Security and Defence Policy.
Strategic compass Fiott, Daniel; Lindstrom, Gustav
Chaillot papers (Paris),
2022, Volume:
171, December 2021
Journal Article
Open access
Over the past 20 years the European Union has enhanced its role as a security and defence actor. However, in a rapidly changing geopolitical environment, the Union faces new threats and security ...challenges and this calls for a unified, robust and far-reaching approach from the bloc and its Member States. The Strategic Compass, to be adopted in March 2022, will look to the 2025-2030 time horizon and propose strengthened security and defence measures in the areas of crisis management, resilience, capability development and partnerships. A first draft of the Compass was unveiled to EU defence ministers in mid-November 2021, but there are still months of political negotiation ahead on the precise content and framing of the text. This Chaillot Paper seeks to inform the remaining months of negotiation on the Strategic Compass up to its approval in March 2022. It does so by offering numerous recommendations and policy considerations, combining the insights of 11 expert contributors and the results of an EUISS questionnaire responded to by over 70 individuals representing government-affiliated research institutions, international organisations, think tanks and universities.
Security and defence policy documents have sparked academic interest since their publication has become a common international practice in the 1990s. Yet, broad comparisons across time and countries ...have been scarce. This article presents information from a new dataset on security and defence documents published by OECD countries. Specifically, we analyse what type of documents were published by each country between 1990 and 2019, which security concerns they identify, and what level of importance is given to different agendas of security and defence. The dataset reveals an unexpected level of diversity, including an apparent lack of a common framework even among countries belonging to NATO or the European Union. In terms of content, there was a recent recurrence of traditional security topics, along with the prominence of some newer ones. Overall, the documents reveal a surprising lack of consistency and completeness with regards to provisions for policy execution.
The article discusses Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union and the principle of mutual defence in general in the EU. Most EU member states base their defence policy around NATO, and thus, ...there has historically been little appetite to create new overlapping structures for mutual defence. However, during recent years, interest in the further operationalisation and clarification of Article 42(7) has arisen, with the European Parliament and member states such as Finland and France at the forefront of these demands. While the EU’s mutual defence is not going to replace or overtake NATO as the cornerstone of Europe’s security order, further developing the Common Security and Defence Policy and the EU’s mutual defence policy would be beneficial for Europe as a whole.
Italy represents an important case of defense policy change after the Cold War. While during the bipo-lar era the country rarely intervened abroad and was deeply constrained in its defense policy by ...do-mestic as well as international factors, in the post-Cold War era, Italy has constantly intervened in major conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East and Afghanistan. Yet, in the past decade, and especial-ly after the 2011 Libyan intervention, Italian activism has consistently diminished. The purpose of this article is to describe this trend and to review theories that have been put forward to explain Italian activism (and retrenchment). While several insights can emerge from multiple studies dedicated to the topic, we argue that some elements such as legacies and institutional constraints have been some-what overlooked and actually open promising avenues for research.
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