The European Security Strategy (ESS) has become an important reference framework for the EU since its inception in 2003. Without strategy an actor can only really be a 'reactor' to events and developments. In the ESS the EU now has a strategy, with which it has the potential of shifting boundaries and shaping the World.

This volume explores this statement and examines the underlying concepts and implementation of the ESS as a judging tool of all the European Union's external actions. Contributors, closely involved in the early debate leading up to the ESS, assess questions...

In December 2003 the EU adopted the European Security Strategy, the first ever common strategic vision of the Member States. This volume examines how the Strategy can form the basis of a comprehensive approach that integrates all dimensions of EU external action, from aid and trade to defence, under the same agenda of 'effective multilateralism' or global governance. This agenda can be translated into the core public goods to which every individual on earth is entitled; promoting access to these global public goods can be the essence of a distinctive European approach emphasizing long-term...

This new Handbook brings together key experts on European security from the academic and policy worlds to examine the European Union (EU) as an international security actor. While the focus is on the politico-military dimension, security will be put in the context of the holistic approach advocated by the EU.