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Actors and Ambitions in the European Union’s Security Policies Towards Africa

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Regionalism in Africa and External Partners

Abstract

Since the turn of the century, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the establishment of the African Union in 2002, the European Union (EU) has increasingly involved itself in promoting security in Africa. During this period, the EU launched no less than 17 missions within the framework of the Common Foreign and Defence Policy (CFDP). By applying a foreign policy analysis framework, this chapter generates and consolidates knowledge of the motives, interests and actors involved in the EU’s policies towards Africa in the past years. This includes finding explanations for the recent changes in Brussels’ foreign and security policies in this regard. Key findings include that this and the EU’s involvement in security promotion in Africa is mainly the result of one member state’s national security concerns in combination with the strong ambitions of two important EU institutions.

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Correspondence to Gorm Rye Olsen .

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Olsen, G.R. (2022). Actors and Ambitions in the European Union’s Security Policies Towards Africa. In: Muntschick, J. (eds) Regionalism in Africa and External Partners. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10702-3_4

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