Politico-Military Dynamics of European Crisis Response Operations

How do Europeans engage in military strategy? Through detailed comparisons of operational planning and exploring the framework of the EU, NATO and the UN, this book sheds light on the instrumental nature of military force, the health of civil-military relations in Europe and the difficulty of making effective strategy in a multinational environment

'Alexander Mattelaer's meticulous study of three crisis response operations undertaken by European armed forces (Chad, Lebanon and Afghanistan) examines the nature and scale of the 'friction' which emerges between the military and the political aspects of these operations, and assesses the extent to which they can be considered to involve strategy. This is an important and original book which contributes significantly to the scholarly discussion of NATO, CSDP and the global role of the European Union.' - Jolyon Howorth, Department of Political Science, Yale University, USA. 'In the past decade, European states have carried out military crisis management and stabilization operations on three continents - through, NATO, the CSDP and the UN. But how effective have these operations been? Have the Europeans lived up to their strategic ambitions? What are the lessons learned and the way ahead for the future, against a background of financial crisis and declining European defence budgets? The reader who wants answers to these questions will find no better guide than Alexander Mattelaer. This book is the most comprehensive and best researched analysis currently available.' - Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO.

Dr Alexander Mattelaer is the Assistant Director of the Institute for European Studies (IES) in Brussels, Belgium. He obtained his PhD in Political Science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and graduated as a civilian joint planner from the Belgian Advanced Staff College (123rd Div). His research interests include European defence policy (CSDP/NATO), civil-military relations and strategic planning.