European Papers (Oct 2021)
An Army of Peoples? A Demoicratic Perspective on a Future European Army
Abstract
(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2021 6(2), 1049-1073 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. The constitutional dimension of armed forces. - II.1. The military as part of State authority. - II.2. International military forces. - II.3. The EU and defence: from failure to incremental integration. - II.4. Interim conclusion. - III. The EU as a demoicracy. - IV. Taking stock: the combination of political theory and military architecture. - V. An army of peoples: design questions. - V.1. Replacing or reinforcing national troops? - V.2. All in v coalition of the willing. - V.3. Decision-making rules and parliamentary accountability. - V.4. Operational decision-making: the Council(s) and the Commander. - V.5. National constitutional reservations: demos v demoi. - VI. On complexity. - VII. Conclusion. | (Abstract) In this Article, I combine political theory and defence-related institutional design in order to suggest what a future EU army could look like. I begin by explaining the main differences between national and international armed forces as well as the EU's current defence architecture. As a result, I observe that armed forces necessarily reflect the constitutional identity and theoretical architecture of their home political community. I then explain why, in my view, the idea of demoicracy best describes the EU's theoretical nature. On that basis, I discuss various questions of institutional design for a future EU army, for which the demoicratic nature of the EU both prescribes and constrains the available options. Apart from concrete design proposals, the two key takeaways are i) that there is conceptual space for autonomous armed forces beyond the nation-state, and ii) that any proposal for an EU army needs to be aware of its reflexive relationship with the nature of the EU as a political community.
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