The Post-cold War European Security Structure

The main purpose of this study is to explore the adaptations and changes of the key security organizations in Europe and their impact on the development of European security structure and on the stability of European order. It hopes to describe and explain what kind of new security structure has emerged in Europe, what characteristics it has, and why this one has been established. It studies three key regional security organizations: NATO, OSCE and EU/WEU. It elucidated the reforms and adaptations of each organization under the new security environment, the relationship among three of them, the interests of each of European powers in each of these security organizations, and their respective role in European security structure.The author believes that the comprehensive concentric circle structure has been built after more than ten years evolution of the adaptation of European security organizations. NATO, led by U.S., has become one point of the concentric circle, controlling the operation of the whole structure from the military perspective. EU is becoming another point of the concentric circle, drawing the countries around it that are applying to be admifted in the union. EU is playing the role of a sort of security anchor for Europe politically, economically and socially. The two circles are heavily overlapped, which shows that America and EU have many common interests in security affairs. The parts that are not overlapped means different division of labor and contradictions between the two. The difference of "insider"and "outsider"between the circle points and the other countries can be clearly seen in this structure. The "insider"are a group of countries who are the members of military alliance and formally reconfirmed to protect each other when it needs to do so. The "outsider"not only has no such kind of privilege, but mainlyseen as a kind of uncertainty, even seen as pOtential threats. The keycountries through the organizations currently contfol the system by wayof multilateral cooperation, or by building complicated institutions.They do not hesitate to resort the fOrce when it is necessary to deal withthose counries who are against the will of the Western countries.The athor has analyzed the reasons accounting for theestablislunent of this concelltric circle smicture from the historicalperspective and the point of view of globalization. The integration ofthe Western pall of Europe and the fragmentation of Easternpat because of the dissolution of the Soviet Union are tWo aspects of themain heritage of the Cold War. The uncertaillty of the futuredevelopment of Russia and the common interests of maintaining thedominance of the westem economic and political order, which originatedfrom the birth of caPitalism and developed for a long time since then, thenew trend of globalization and new security issues, are the reasons Whythis smicture centers around military alliance. The multilateral traditionand highly institutionalized development in Europe, together with thepower suPeriority of the westem Gountries, exPlain the features why thisstrUcture is mainly controlled in a cooperative way, and why norms andprinciples are highly attached theortance.The principle theory directing the dissertation writing is Marxism.The methodologies adopted are three combined methods with structural,constitulional and historical analyses. Smictural analysis deals with theactors and the way the actors act with each other. Constitlltionalanalysis is adopted to analyze the power of the organizations, since somekey European seGurity organizations has been chosen as the main actorsof the smicture. Historical analysis is used to describe and explore theprocess of adaPtations and reforms of these security orgedzatons.