The EU's foreign and security policy: Theory and practice

This review examines three recent publications on the contemporary development of a foreign policy for the EU. Two of the books offer well-informed and rich theoretical and empirical accounts of this development, while the third anthology is a contribution from foreign policy makers, such as Javier Solana, Guy Verhofstadt as well as several EU parliamentarians. The policy makers seek to analyse how far the EU has developed security and defence capabilities, as well as identifying remaining challenges for the EU in a global security environment. These publications are broad and further our understanding of the development of EU foreign policy. The EU is now developing capabilities to match the new security threats of the 21st century, such as terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, ethnic conflicts, international crime and humanitarian and environmental crises.