DEBATTE /DEBATE The Perils of Conceiving EU Foreign Policy as a»Civilizing« Force GIOVANNA BONO Introduction Is the Common Foreign and Security Policy( cfsp ), the second pillar of the European Union( eu ), which came into existence in 1993, part of a »peace project« in which the eu acts as a civilizing force? What is the im­pact of this vision of cfsp on the construction of a»European identity«? To what extent are parliaments and citizens involved in shaping cfsp ? Academics and analysts of cfsp are deeply divided over these ques­tions, although there is a growing consensus that cfsp is only one ele­ment of eu foreign policy. cfsp cannot be examined separately from pol­icies adopted by the eu under its other two pillars – Pillar I: the European (economic) Community; Pillar III: Justice and Home Affairs – nor from those of its Member States(Smith 2003; Jorgensen 2004). cfsp can be conceptualized as one aspect of eu external relations, as a set of legal rules, institutional structures, and financial, human, and knowledge­based resources, influenced by competing norms and interests, that allow Member States to partly coordinate their foreign, security, and defense policies so as to re-forge the Western Alliance and other international in­stitutions, while simultaneously interacting with non­eu states over a number of political, economic, and diplomatic issue-areas. One of the key characteristics of cfsp is that since 2000, with the signing of the Nice Treaty, it includes a new security and defense dimension: the European Security and Defence Policy( esdp ). esdp has led to the creation of new military and political institutions – Political Security Committee, Military Committee, Military Staff, Defence Agency, civilian committee for crisis management, Sitcen, and so on – and has allowed the eu to have direct control over military forces, establish crisis management procedures, and develop common military capabilities and a security culture. esdp has also introduced new flexibility mechanisms in decision-making that allow a group of countries, at times in cooperation with nato and non­eu states, to take decisions and implement them. cfsp and esdp are there­150 Bono, The Perils of Conceiving EU Foreign Policy as a»Civilizing Force ipg 1/2006