| Summary: | Before this study was conducted, there was a research gap in the current field of international relations. The purpose of this study was to examine why the EU has not established a common defence policy and a common defence. In order to address this, a theoretical framework based on realism and liberalism was created. Taken together, this study thus filled that gap and provided new insight on EU’s defence policy. The method that was used to conduct the research was a case study and the material consisted of the Treaty of Lisbon, EU key documents, as well as numerous of theoretical works concerning realism and liberalism. The study is of an explaining nature and the analysis seeks to explain the research question by testing it on the theoretical framework. The study concludes that the theoretical framework is able to explain the research question. Both realism and liberalism contributed with significant insight on why the EU has not established a common defence policy and a common defence. The main result shows that realism answers the research question by pointing out the role that member states play, and that liberalism, in contrast, points at the role EU as a unitary institution plays.
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