Normative Power and EU Security Integration
Normative Power and EU Security Integration

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the transformation of the European Union’s international identity amid a deteriorating security environment and the accelerated development of its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). It explores whether the EU’s growing military and defence ambitions challenge its long-standing self-conception as a normative power or whether both dimensions can coexist. The study builds on Ian Manners’ concept of normative power and Nathalie Tocci’s understanding of normativity as an ethically grounded foreign policy. Using qualitative analysis of EU strategic documents, official statements, and contemporary academic literature, the article traces the evolution of EU security and defence policy since 2014, with particular attention to developments after 2022. The findings show that enhanced military capabilities reinforce rather than undermine the EU’s normative international identity amid increasing geopolitical pressures.

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