Transforming European Militaries

A unique look at European Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) and their implications for transatlantic co-operation in future operations. Gordon Adams and Guy Ben-Ari identify the key requirements for improvement of Europe’s abilities as an international actor. They focus on national and collaborative, as well as existing and planned, networks. They clearly show the reader how, with the removal of the risks of Soviet invasion, European defence planners must now modify their strategies and capabilities to address new threats, both at home and overseas. They also show why future operations within international coalitions will require network-based capabilities that can interoperate. Europe possesses a technological and industrial base adequate to supply such capabilities, and its defence strategies are gradually being modified to emphasize expeditionary forces operations within coalition settings. However, much remains to be done. This volume tackles the key challenges facing European nations who need to operate alongside each other and with their North American allies more effectively and efficiently. This book will be of great interest to all students of European affairs and politics, international relations and military and strategic studies.

NATO member states are all undergoing some form of military transformation. Despite a shared vision, transformation has been primarily a US-led process centered on the exploitation of new information technologies in combination with new concepts for "networked organizations" and "effects-based operations." Simply put, European states have been unable to match the level of US investment in new military technologies, leading to the identification of a growing "transformation gap" between the US and the European allies. This book assesses the extent and trajectory of military transformation across a range of European NATO member states, setting their transformation progress against that of the US, and examining the complex mix of factors driving military transformation in each country. It reveals not only the nature and extent of the transatlantic gap, but also identifies an enormous variation in the extent and pace of transformation among the European allies, suggesting both technological and operational gaps within Europe.

"As a result of new strategic threats, Europe's land forces are currently undergoing a historic transformation which may reflect wider processes of European integration. Europe's mass, mainly conscript armies are being replaced by smaller, more capable, professionalised militaries concentrated into new operational headquarters and rapid reaction brigades, able to plan, command and execute global military interventions. At the same time, these headquarters and brigades are co-operating with each other across national borders at a level which would have been inconceivable in the twentieth century. As a result, a transnational military network is appearing in Europe, the forces in which are converging on common forms of military expertise. This is a groundbreaking study of the military dimensions of European integration, which have been largely ignored until now. It will appeal to scholars across the social sciences interested in the progress of the European project, and the nature of the military today"--

The armed forces of Europe have undergone a dramatic transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces provides the first comprehensive analysis of national security and defence policies, strategies, doctrines, capabilities, and military operations, as well as the alliances and partnerships of European armed forces in response to the security challenges Europe has faced since the end of the cold war. A truly cross-European comparison of the evolution of national defence policies and armed forces remains a notable blind spot in the existing literature. The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces aims to fill this gap with fifty-one contributions on European defence and international security from around the world. The six parts focus on: country-based assessments of the evolution of the national defence policies of Europe's major, medium, and lesser powers since the end of the cold war; the alliances and security partnerships developed by European states to cooperate in the provision of national security; the security challenges faced by European states and their armed forces, ranging from interstate through intra-state and transnational; the national security strategies and doctrines developed in response to these challenges; the military capabilities, and the underlying defence and technological industrial base, brought to bear to support national strategies and doctrines; and, finally, the national or multilateral military operations by European armed forces. The contributions to The Handbook collectively demonstrate the fruitfulness of giving analytical precedence back to the comparative study of national defence policies and armed forces across Europe.

This new book examines European Network Enabled Capabilities and their implications for transatlantic interoperability in future coalition operations with the US.

The United States is engaged in an ambitious agenda of defense transformation that is revolutionizing the way the U.S. military organizes, trains, fights, and even thinks about conflict. What impact will this have on America's European allies? How can NATO transform itself for the 21st century? This volume examines the implications of U.S. defense transformation for NATO, particularly how America and its allies can close the ""transatlantic transformation gap"" --a looming breach in strategic orientation, spending priorities, and conceptual and operational planning and training. It examines European approaches to defense transformations and charts the progress made by the Alliance from Kosovo to Kabul --while showing how far it still has to go. The authors approach the issue of NATO transformation from different perspectives. As a whole, however, their argument is straightforward. If Alliance transformation is to be successful it must include, but also go beyond, the purely military dimension. NATO must transform its scope and strategic rationale, its capabilities, its partnerships --its very ways of doing business. They offer a range of policy prescriptions for the NATO Summit in Istanbul and beyond. Contributors include Richard L. Kugler, Rob de Wijk, George Robertson, Yves Boyer, Jeffrey P. Bialos, Andrew James, Hans Binnendijk, Manfred Engelhardt and Stuart L. Koehl.

At a time when many observers question the EU’s ability to achieve integration of any significance, and indeed Europeans themselves appear disillusioned, Mai’a K. Davis Cross argues that the EU has made remarkable advances in security integration, in both its external and internal dimensions. Moreover, internal security integration—such as dealing with terrorism, immigration, cross-border crime, and drug and human trafficking—has made even greater progress with dismantling certain barriers that previously stood at the core of traditional state sovereignty. Such unprecedented collaboration has become possible thanks to knowledge-based transnational networks, or “epistemic communities,” of ambassadors, military generals, scientists, and other experts who supersede national governments in the diplomacy of security decision making and are making headway at remarkable speed by virtue of their shared expertise, common culture, professional norms, and frequent meetings. Cross brings together nearly 80 personal interviews and a host of recent government documents over the course of five separate case studies to provide a microsociological account of how governance really works in today’s EU and what future role it is likely to play in the international environment. “This is an ambitious work which deals not only with European security and defense but also has much to say about the policy-making process of the EU in general.” —Ezra Suleiman, Princeton University

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the world’s largest, most powerful military alliance. The Alliance has navigated and survived the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the post-9/11 era. Since the release of the 2010 Strategic Concept, NATO’s strategic environment has again undergone significant change. The need to adapt is clear. An opportunity to assess the Alliance’s achievements and future goals has now emerged with the Secretary General’s drive to create a new Strategic Concept for the next decade—an initiative dubbed NATO 2030. A necessary step for formulating a new strategic outlook will thus be understanding the future that faces NATO. To remain relevant and adjust to new circumstances, the Alliance must identify its main challenges and opportunities in the next ten years and beyond. This book contributes to critical conversations on NATO’s future vitality by examining the Alliance’s most salient issues and by offering recommendations to ensure its effectiveness moving forward. Written by a diverse, multigenerational group of policymakers and academics from across Europe and the United States, this book provides new insights about NATO’s changing threat landscape, its shifting internal dynamics, and the evolution of warfare. The volume’s authors tackle a wide range of issues, including the challenges of Russia and China, democratic backsliding, burden sharing, the extension of warfare to space and cyberspace, partnerships, and public opinion. With rigorous assessments of NATO’s challenges and opportunities, each chapter provides concrete recommendations for the Alliance to chart a path for the future. As such, this book is an indispensable resource for NATO’s strategic planners and security and defense experts more broadly.