The European Union and WMD Non-Proliferation: Strategy, Policy and Contribution

• Main Authors: Su-Wei Lee, 李蘇薇
• Other Authors: Fu-Chang Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/79365809071681115670

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 歐洲研究所碩士班 === 97 === Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) could cause huge devastation and bring death to hundreds of thousands of people, and is therefore one of the most dangerous threats to international security. In the post 9/11 era the international community is now even more focused than before on the issue of WMD proliferation. In 2003, the EU released a strategy on how to deal with proliferation, in which the EU describes its political objectives and instruments to manage this serious crisis. This thesis discusses the EU’s strategy through the theory of Institutionalism. The international regime establishes the non-proliferation norm through means such as export control, which is one of the EU’s key ways to prevent proliferation. However, the EU as a special political entity weakens its authority in fields of export control of dual-use items and armament. As it is important for the existence of the non-proliferation regime in terms of collective efforts, the EU has to cooperate with third countries to stop the proliferation of WMD. Due to the leadership role of the USA in the international regime, close cooperation with the USA makes the EU’s action against proliferation of WMD more effective. Russia and Iran are two of the EU’s most urgent issues. Russia lacks the ability to manage its current WMD arsenal due to financial and social problems. With an uranium enrichment programme that has been in existence for over 20 years, the Iran nuclear crisis also challenges the international non-proliferation regime. Considering these two cases, this thesis helps to understand the EU’s role and function in the international non-proliferation activities. The EU holds that multilateralism is the best way of strengthening international security. In helping either individual countries or the international non-proliferation organization financially and technologically, the EU plays an important supporting role. However, the differing opinion among the EU’s member states on WMD, especially on nuclear proliferation, limits its ability to control proliferation. If the EU wants to be more influential and effective dealing with the WMD proliferation, it needs a more integrated WMD non-proliferation policy.