![Foreign policy and defence challenges [What Think Tanks are Thinking]](https://i0.wp.com/epthinktank.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/eprs_brie_tt_633146_policychallenges_final.jpg?fit=1000%2C562&ssl=1)
Written by Marcin Grajewski,
The European Union will face increasingly serious foreign policy and defence challenges in 2019. The current Administration in the United States seems to be abandoning its traditional role of the ‘benign protector’ of the rules-based international order. Russia, according to many analysts, continues to try to undermine the democratic process in many Western countries and China’s foreign policy is becoming more and more assertive, notably in the economic field. Furthermore, migration, Brexit and cyber-security, as well as a lack of EU unity on certain issues, also feature amongst key challenges.
This note offers links to recent selected commentaries, studies and reports from major international think tanks on EU foreign and defence policies. Links to more reports on President Donald Trump’s policies, Russia, EU-China relations and NATO available in previous items of the series published last year.
President Donald Trump
What
Trump means for Europe
Carnegie Europe, January 2019
How Europe will try to dodge the US–China standoff in
2019
Chatham House, December 2018
Europe and Iran: The economic and commercial dimensions
of a strained relationship
Instituto Affari Internazionali, December 2019
Divided at the centre: Germany, Poland, and the troubles of the Trump era
Centre for European Policy Studies, December 2018
The Iran nuclear deal and the EU: A strategic awakening?
Clingendael, November 2018
The United States, Russia, and Europe in 2018: Chipping
away at four Gordian knots
Russian International Affairs Council,
November 2018
Us and U.S.? Not all in Europe want to be a
“counterweight” to Donald Trump’s United States
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik,
September 2018
Trump’s misguided attack on European unity
Council on Foreign
Relations, July 2018
Russia
Western countries must rethink how to deter Russian
aggression against Ukraine
Chatham House, December 2018
Is Russia about to invade Ukraine?
Atlantic Council, December 2018
Beyond borderlands: Ensuring the sovereignty of all
nations of Eastern Europe
Atlantic Council, November 2018
Putin’s fourth term: The twilight begins?
European Union Institute for Strategic Studies, November 2018
Hacks, leaks and disruptions: Russian cyber strategies
European Union Institute for Strategic Studies, October 2018
Russia and the Baltics: A testing ground for NATO–EU
defence cooperation
Instituto Affari Internazionali, September
2018
Russia’s return to the Middle East: Building sandcastles?
European Union Institute for Strategic Studies, July 2018
Tailored assurance: Balancing deterrence and disarmament
in responding to NATO-Russia tensions
Institut français des relations internationals, July
2018
China
Development through acquisition: The domestic background
of China’s Europe policy
Instituto Affari Internazionali, January 2019
EU-India cooperation and China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Clingendael, January 2019
Are China’s trade practices really unfair?
Centre for European Policy Studies, December 2018
The EU and China: Modest signs of convergence?
Egmont,
December 2018
Political values in Europe-China relations
Clingendael, December 2018
Les multiples atouts de la stratégie sécuritaire de la
Chine en Afrique
Groupe
de recherche et d’information sur la paix et securite, December 2018
Other reports on defence
1919-2019: How to make peace last? European strategy and
the future of the world order
Egmont, January 2019
Eyes tight shut: European attitudes towards nuclear
deterrence
European Council on Foreign Relations, December 2018
Permanent deterrence: Enhancements to the US military
presence in North Central Europe
Atlantic
Council, December 2018
Le Brexit et la défense européenne: Un choix de fond pour
l’Union
Groupe
de recherche et d’information sur la paix et securite, December 2018
Under the gun: Rearmament for arms control in Europe
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2018
Strategic autonomy: Towards ‘European sovereignty’ in
defence?
European Union Institute for Strategic Studies, November 2018
NATO nuclear sharing and the future of nuclear deterrence
in Europe
The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, November 2018
A ‘European’ army? Eminently defensible but not probable
for a long time to come
Atlantic Council, November 2018
The erosion of strategic stability and the future of arms
control in Europe
Institut français des relations internationales,
November 2018
Reinforcing EU-NATO cooperation: Walking the talk?
Beyond the Horizon, November 2018
EU-NATO relations: A long-term perspective
Egmont, November 2018
The civilian CSDP compact: A success story for the EU’s
crisis management Cinderella?
European Union Institute for Strategic Studies, October 2018
Confronting an “axis of cyber”? China, Iran, North Korea,
Russia in cyberspace
Istituto
per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, October 2018
Global evaluation of the European Union engagement on
counter-terrorism
International Centre
for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague; Royal United Services Institute, October
2018
The challenges of NATO nuclear policy: Alliance
management under the Trump Administration
Finnish Institute of International Affairs,
October 2018
France’s European intervention initiative: Towards a
culture of burden sharing
Wilfried Martens Centre, October 2018
NATO after the Brussels summit: Bruised or emboldened?
German Marshall Fund, September 2018
Germany and European defence cooperation: A post-Atlantic
turn?
Finnish Institute of International Affairs,
September 2018
Debating security plus: Conflict, competition and
cooperation in an interconnected world
Friends of Europe,
September 2018
The nightmare of the dark: The security fears that keep
Europeans awake at night
European Council on Foreign Relations, July 2018
Complementarity
without competition: How NATO can benefit from stronger European defense
cooperation
Atlantic Council, July
2018
EU-NATO cooperation: Distinguishing narrative from
substance
Jacques Delors
Institute, July 2018
Other reports on foreign policy
The EU’s re-engagement with the Western Balkans: A new
chapter long overdue
Centre for European Policy Studies, January 2019
Refugee movements in the Middle East: Old crises, new
ideas
Instituto Affari Internazionali, January 2019
How
populism spills over into foreign policy
Carnegie Europe, January 2019
Strengthening European commercial diplomacy: Prospects
and challenges
Instituto Affari Internazionali, December 2018
Back in control, Syria’s regime tries to build its
legitimacy
Chatham House, December 2018
Merkel’s
foreign policy footprint
Carnegie Europe, December 2018
Some EU governments leaving the UN Global Compact on
Migration: A contradiction in terms?
Centre for European
Policy Studies, November 2018
Ein Europäischer Sicherheitsrat: Mehrwert für die Außen-
und Sicherheitspolitik der EU?
Stiftung Wissenschaft und
Politik, November 2018
Die nachrichtendienstlichen Schnittstellen der
EU-Sicherheitspolitik
Stiftung Wissenschaft und
Politik, November 2018
New realities in foreign affairs: Diplomacy in the 21st
century
Stiftung
Wissenschaft und Politik, November 2018
UN migration agreement leads to splits in the European
Union
Atlantic Council,
November 2018
Crimes sans châtiment ou la dérangeante complaisance des
démocraties européennes envers Riyad
Groupe de recherche et
d’information sur la paix et securite, October 2018
Regional geopolitical rivalries in the Middle East:
Implications for Europe
Instituto Affari
Internazionali, October 2018
EU foreign policy in a networked world: Webs against
power politics
Finnish Institute of
International Affairs, October 2018
EU Grenzpolitiken: Der humanitäre und geopolitische Preis
von Externalisierungsstrategien im Grenzschutz
Österreichische
Institut für Internationale Politik, October 2018
Halting ambition: EU migration and security policy in the
Sahel
European Council on Foreign Relations, September 2018
How a European Security Council could strengthen EU
foreign policy: Brussels’ new telephone number?
Konrad Adenauer
Stiftung, August 2018
The EU’s four strategic challenges
Jacques Delors
Institute, July 2018
EU–Japan relations in the age of competitive economic
governance
Clingendael, July 2018
De-radicalization in the Mediterranean
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale,
July 2018
Geopolitical outlook for Europe: Confrontation vs
cooperation
European Political Strategy
Centre, June 2018
Read this briefing on ‘Foreign policy and defence challenges‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.
