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The Community Dilemma: Defence Integration in a Post-Heroic European Union
Why have European leaders repeatedly advocated an EU defence capacity yet so often fallen short of their ambitions, and how does EU defence function alongside NATO? Focusing on three defining periods of EU defence integration (1999, 2004, and 2016), this paper draws on archival material and elite interviews to reassess when and why integration advances. Building on insights from psychological approaches in International Relations, it shows that major institutional steps tend to cluster around moments of acute political strain rather than clear shifts in the external threat environment. This perspective unsettles dominant strategic and institutionalist accounts and opens new questions about the drivers, limits, and consequences of European defence cooperation.
Dr John Helferich is a researcher at Pembroke College’s Global Security Programme and a Lecturer in Politics at Hertford College, University of Oxford. His research focuses on Euro-Atlantic security cooperation and transformations in global order.
Date:
4 February 2026, 17:15
Venue:
All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details:
Old Library
Speaker:
Dr John Helferich (University of Oxford)
Organising department:
Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR)
Organiser:
Changing Character of War Centre (CCW)
Organiser contact email address:
info@ccw.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Changing Character of War Centre: Strategic Leadership
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Elizabeth Robson
