PROJECT AIMS

Inspired by the need to bring in new directions into policy making, EU-GRASP studies the EU’s regional and global role in a world of changing multilateralism. By studying this aspect of the evolving EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-GRASP aims to answer a number of questions on EU’s presence, actorness and capabilities in regional and global security.

This research project will be undertaken through a conceptual analysis but also through the undertaking of case-studies on an agreed number of security issues and through exercises of foresight, where academia and stakeholders will be able to explore scenarios of future roles of the EU in global and regional security matters. In doing so, EU-GRASP focuses on six security issues that are high on the EU-agenda: regional conflict, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, energy security and climate change; human rights and migration.

The EU-GRASP project is to be interdisciplinary and focuses upon integrating different strands of academic literature relevant for understanding multilateralism and the new external relations of the EU. Next to the concept of multilateralism, attention will be devoted to the global actorness of the EU and the change in the international security agenda; in order to understand the multilateral nature of security governance.

The project work plan consists of the following components:

• Conceptual integrated analyses of the evolving concepts of multilateralism and security and the EU’s role as a security actor;
• Case-studies of the EU’s approach to a number of specific security issues;
• A transversal comparative analysis applying and integrating the case-study findings; and lastly
• A foresight study, building on the project’s findings that will detail scenarios for future EU policy towards external security relations and multilateral approaches to threats and challenges.

The research will be policy-oriented and include a strong interactive dimension, in order to assure ongoing feedback from the target public.