The Future Use of Armed Force

Today, Western thinking about the use of force is determined by geopolitical change, the financial crisis and bad memories from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This contribution argues that geopolitical change requires Europe to consider the consequences of multipolarity and the tendency for rising powers to want unrestricted access to raw materials and energy to support economic growth. In addition, America’s rebalancing to the East, a policy of retrenchment and the concept of ‘leading from behind’, all indicate that Europe must be able to defend its vital interests without American support. Consequently, Europe needs a full-spectrum force, which can only be sustained when nations move from defense cooperation to defense integration. Local and regional conflicts could require crisis response operations to relieve humanitarian suffering or to defend less critical European interests. But bad memories of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will have a considerable impact on future operations. Only when Europe’s vital interests are at stake are states willing to carry out large-scale stabilization operations. When lesser interests are at stake, Europe will abstain or limit its response to an enabling role, supporting response operations carried out by local or regional forces. The core message of this contribution is that Europe needs a full spectrum force that can be deployed without U.S. support ; that Europe should therefore move from defense cooperation to defense integration ; and that when it comes to the actual deployment of its forces, Europe must better balance political objectives and military means.