Defence Policy & Strategy

Command and Control for the CSDP. A Permanent Operation Headquarters for the EU?

There is broad agreement that the European states should do more for their own security and defence, but little consensus on how to achieve this goal, or on what role strategic autonomy may have in delivering it. In the EU, perhaps the most likely framework for creating the necessary capacity, the Member States have signed up to a higher level of military ambition, but their employment of military force through the Common Security and Defence Policy has remained modest.

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Zapad-2021—Logistics and Key Fighting Concepts

Between 10–16 September 2021, Russia and its ally Belarus conducted the active phase of the Zapad-2021 command-staff exercise. Zapad tests Russian warfighting capabilities in the Western operational direction and thus it has a strong anti-NATO character. This has always been the case.

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NATO in Search of Efficiency and Balance

Crisis management is one of NATO’s core tasks, alongside collective defence and cooperative security. NATO’s new Strategic Concept, which is currently being developed as a replacement for the previous document adopted in 2010, is likely to place an even greater focus on the issue.

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American Leadership in NATO: A Rocky Return but a Firm Future

Although America is ‘back’ at NATO, Europe remains unsettled about the credibility and longevity of US commitments to the alliance. A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the alliance’s next Strategic Concept and how the two sides will craft a common agenda to endure the coming decade. The Biden administration, despite a few recent transatlantic missteps, recognises the gravity of this moment and has come prepared with a focused set of priorities for NATO’s future.

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NATO, Russia, and the Security Dynamics in the Black Sea

In the last decade, the Black Sea has become a de facto arena for competing and objectively irreconcilable strategic interests, where an opportunistic Russia has unilaterally changed the security architecture and dynamics in the region via not only conventional military means, but also highly sophisticated and hybrid means that have allowed Moscow plausible deniability.

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