Publication
Parliamentary acceptability of EU military deployments in member states: beyond rubber-stamping?
In this article Robert Kissack, Eva Michaels, and Óscar Fernández explore the decision-making processes and debates surrounding EU member states' troop contributions to Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) military deployments.
- Author
- Robert Kissack, Eva Michaels & Óscar Fernández
- Date
- 23 October 2024
- Links
- Read the full article here
The authors examine how national parliamentarians justify their support or opposition to contributing troops to these missions, based on public parliamentary archives from 13 EU countries. They find that debates about CSDP deployments often mirror those for higher-salience military interventions, with national security concerns dominating right-wing parties' arguments and humanitarian and multilateralism frames prevalent among left-leaning parties. Despite CSDP deployments being typically viewed as lower salience, MPs frame their discussions similarly to more significant military actions, reflecting comparable levels of political contestation.
The study reveals that while there is variation across EU countries, the most commonly used frames are national interest and security, multilateralism, and humanitarianism. The research also highlights that small states such as Estonia and Ireland show similar framing patterns to larger states, with security and multilateralism being central themes. However, the data from smaller states was limited, and further investigation is needed to fully understand the dynamics. The article concludes with suggestions for future research, including expanding the sample to include more EU states and conducting interviews with MPs to better understand the intricacies of CSDP deployment debates.