The European Union’s Brand of Peacebuilding

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 1-12

3. Identity in Motion and in Dialogue

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 13-50

4. A Way to Just Peace?

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 51-70

5. Artemis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Necessary “Success Story”

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 71-107

6. EUFOR Althea in Bosnia: A Tiny Particle of the Peacebuilding Enterprise

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 109-190

7. EULEX in Kosovo: EULEKSPERIMENT

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 191-260

8. Conclusion

   • Birgit Poopuu

   Pages 261-268

9. Back Matter

   Pages 269-271

   PDF

“Conceptually and empirically, this is the most thoughtful analysis of the role of EU’s peace missions I have read so far. It starts with the ‘action for the sake of action’ logic of CSDP development and offers a new interpretation of what CSDP could be, if just peace was part of its political agenda. A rare gem in European studies.”
— Xymena Kurowska, Associate Professor of International Relations at Central European University, Hungary


“This impressive research monograph provides a critical account of EUs peace missions by asking what these missions offer, how peace is built, and whom these missions serve. To address these important questions, Birgit Poopuu develops and employs an original and sophisticated discursive framework of telling and acting to conduct an in-depth investigation of EU peace missions Artemis in the DRC, EUFOR Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and EULEX in Kosovo. This book’s ground-breaking exploration advances the study of the EU as a peacebuilder.”
— Annika Björkdahl, Professor of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden, and Editor in Chief of Cooperation and Conflict





This book critically explores the European Union’s brand of peacebuilding in the form of its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). A contextually close reading of EU missions – using the fluid categories of telling and acting, stressing the dialogical ways of being, and taking heed of the concept of just peace as a particular guide to building peace – allows the book to tap into the specific meanings the EU has of peace, the ways in which it imagines its relationships with its varied partners, and perhaps most controversially, the way that being/becoming a global actor has been front and center of the CSDP. The analysis focuses on three core missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo. One of the recurring themes that emerges from the empirical chapters is the significance attached to acting, and that acting per se constitutes success of a mission, without much thought given to its substance, or the outcome of the EU’s engagement. The imaginative force of this book rests on developing a set of context-sensitive analytical tools, encapsulated in the dialogical model of identity formation and the dynamic approach to analysing identity through telling and acting.

• peace goods
• identify
• telling and acting
• discourse and practice turns
• dialogue
• interpretive methodology
• critical camp of peace and conflict studies
• justice
• just peace
• Artemis
• security as a peace good
• EUFOR Althea
• slice of peace
• EULEK
• rule of law as a peace good
• European standards
• European Union
• EU
• Peacebuilding
• Common Security and Defence Policy

“Both books deserve praise for their detailed and reflective assessment of conflict situations and for their comprehensive source material, including interviews with EU officials, military personnel, and former diplomats. Another noteworthy strength of Conflict Resolution and Global Justice is the coverage of several conflicts from multiple angles … . Most importantly, both books provide ideas for how the EU could use its peacebuilding and conflict resolution tools and resources more effectively.” (Mitja Kleczka, International Peacekeeping, May 3, 2023)

• Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK

  Birgit Poopuu

Birgit Poopuu is Research Fellow at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, Wales. She previously studied at the University of Tartu, has published on the EU’s peacebuilding and is currently working on the project The Politics of Peace and Conflict Knowledge: Syria and the Diverse Landscape of Local Knowledge/Experience.

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