The Treaty of Lisbon introduced the rise of common action capacities in EU’s external relations administration, notably the European External Action Service (EEAS). One essential capacity is staff resources. This paper analyses to what extent and under what conditions the recruitment practice...

The Treaty of Lisbon introduced the rise of common action capacities in EU’s external relations administration, notably the European External Action Service (EEAS). One essential capacity is staff resources. This paper analyses to what extent and under what conditions the recruitment practice...

Challenges to security and development policy alike, such as fragile states, natural disasters and post-conflict reconstruction, are unlikely to respect the institutional boundaries or delimitation of competences of the European Union’s complex system of governance. This holds true for the...

Peacebuilding and state building have been discussed in the past as concepts having a difficult relationship with one another, at times involving trade-offs and even dilemmas. Analysing this relationship on the basis of relevant OECD/DAC documents, this briefing paper argues that the two...

Among the EU institutions, the European Parliament (EP) tends to be notoriously underestimated. This is particularly true in the field of external relations, usually perceived as a prerogative of the executive. As seen from the past legislature (2004–2009) the EP showed, however, that there...

Tackling the linkage between security and development policy poses policy challenges to many development actors – whether in the context of fragile states, natural disaster responses, or post-conflict reconstruction. The challenge is particularly pronounced for the European Union (EU), since...