In the research article ‘Explaining third-country participation in CSDP missions: the case of the association trio – Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova’, published in European Security journal (Taylor & Francis Online), Dr. Mădalina Dobrescu, Principal Investigator & Coordinator at the REDEMOS project, explores the factors underpinning third-country participation in EU military and civilian missions, focusing on the participation of non-EU states, namely the ‘Association Trio – Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia’ in European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Missions..
As the author explains, while these three states share similarities in their association with the EU, such as their engagement in the Eastern Partnership as well as a similar geostrategic environment and common security threats, .
In specific, Dr. Mădalina Dobrescu explains that this variation derives from ‘a combination of third country-specific and EU-level variables, against the background of the broader post-Cold War security environment and the three countries’ deepening integration with the EU’. The role conceptions of these three countries provide an accurate expectation of their foreign policy behavior: Ukraine plays a prominent role in peacekeeping, while Moldova maintains a low-key involvement as a neutral state, and Georgia prioritizes NATO.
On a practical level, the variation among the three countries’ contributions to CSDP missions can be attributed to differences in their ‘human and financial resources, institutional capacities, adequacy of legal frameworks, as well as the EU’s selective opening up of missions to third countries and the highly competitive selection process for civilian personnel’.
Source: Madalina Dobrescu (2023) Explaining third-country participation in CSDP missions: the case of the association trio – Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, European Security, DOI: 10.1080/09662839.2023.2196018
