Description
The changing dynamics of international system have led to changes in the international order and the contemporary security environment. While the end of the Cold War provided a fundamental shift, the year 2014 and the subsequent period marked a new change and shift particularly in European security affairs. With the on-going conflict in Ukraine, new dividing lines between the East and the West due to the recurring tensions between Russia, the US and the Europe, increasing sanctions of the EU against Russia, Turkey’s antagonism within NATO and towards the EU, and an emerging distaste for multilateralism the happy years of amicable security relations in Europe seem to be long gone. This therefore triggers questions over the state of European security, cooperation and the overall European security architecture. Considering the multiple challenges Europe is currently facing in security affairs, this paper seeks to analyse the contemporary construction of a (new) European security architecture. This paper puts an emphasis on the views of the European security architecture by its key players: the EU, NATO and Russia. Through the lens of regional security complex theory (RSCT) it conceptualises and examines how these different actors seek to shape a (new) European security architecture.
