HELSINKI REVISITED: EUROPE’S SECURITY DEFICIT

Camiel  Hamans; Jan Marinus Wiersma

doi:10.53679/2616-9460.specialissue.2022.12

Camiel Hamans Doctor, Professor, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Visiting Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1568-4703
Jan Marinus Wiersma Drs., Senior Associate Fellow, Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael Institute), The Hague, Netherlands

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53679/2616-9460.specialissue.2022.12

Keywords: European security strategy, multilateralism, Russian colonial empire, new security arrangements, restitution payments

Abstract

This paper discusses the failures of the European security agenda against Putin’s Russia. It describes how after WWII the world believed in and worked on multilateral cooperation and consultation and how Europe in particular was therefore convinced that peace and security policies should be conducted with soft powers. The remainder of the article then proposes the two pillars on which a new security agenda should be based: multilateralism combined with a deterrent defense. The contribution ends with an epilogue explaining how Russian restitution payments to Ukraine can be made possible.

References

A speech delivered at the MSC 2007 by the President Vladimir Putin. In Fillinger, T. (2019). The Russian Outlook on Security Issues in Speeches at the Munich Security Conference between 2007 and 2018. [Master’s thesis, Masaryk University, Faculty of Social Studies]. https://is.muni.cz/th/xlghl/DP_Fillinger_Speeches.pdf

Boffey, D. (2022, March 26). Russia reasserts right to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/26/russia-reasserts-right-to-use-nuclear-weapons-in-ukraine-putin?ref=tjournal.ru

Burbank, J. (2022, March 22). The Grand Theory Driving Putin to War. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin-eurasianism.html

Erlanger, St., Peltier, E., Crowley, M. ,  Troianovski, A. (2022, January 12). Deep Divides Remain After Russia-NATO Talks on Ukraine Crisis. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/12/world/russia-ukraine-nato-us

Council of the European Union. (2009). European Security Strategy. A secure Europe in a secure world. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/30823/qc7809568enc.pdf

Hoekstra, W. (2022, May 09). Toespraak minister Hoekstra Europadag. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/toespraken/2022/05/09/speech-hoekstra-maastricht-europa

Koenders, B. (2016, November 28). Toespraak Minister Koenders (Universiteit Leiden, 17 November 2016). Clingendael Spectator. https://spectator.clingendael.org/nl/publicatie/toespraak-minister-koenders-universiteit-leiden-17-november-2016

Lagendijk, J., & Wiersma, J. M. (2001). Brussel, Warschau, Kiev. Amsterdam: Balans.

French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. (2022, January 19). French President Emmanuel Macron Speech at the European Parliament – Strasbourg, 19 January 2022. https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/french-president-emmanuel-macron-s-speech-at-the-european-parliament-strasbourg-19-january-2022/

Martin, S. (1997, March 24). Beyond the G8, Yeltsin sees his country in the EU. The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/beyond-the-g8-yeltsin-sees-his-country-in-the-eu-1.55254

McCarthy, B. (2022, February 28). Fact-checking claims that NATO, US broke agreement against alliance expanding eastward. Politifact. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/28/candace-owens/fact-checking-claims-nato-us-broke-agreement-again/#sources

Medvedev, D. (2009, November 29). The draft of the European Security Treaty. President of Russia. http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/6152

Patten, A. (2010). “The most natural state”: Herder and Nationalism. History of Political Thought, 31(4), 657–689.

Ramsbotham, O. (1991). Britain, Germany and the New European Security Debate. Defence and Security Paper No. 1. London: IPPR.

Tooze, A. (2022, March 8). John Mearsheimer and the dark origins of realism. The New Statesman. https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2022/03/john-mearsheimer-and-the-dark-origins-of-realism

Wiersma, J. M. (2014). European security architecture at risk? Security and Human Rights, 25(3), 345–354. https://doi.org/10.1163/18750230-02503009

Wiersma, J. M., & Hamans, C. (2020). De transformatie van Midden- en Oost-Europa. S&D, 77(2), 15–25. https://www.wbs.nl/publicaties/de-transformatie-van-midden-en-oost-europa#_edn6