EU Crisis Management and Conflict Prevention. Identifying Institutional Constrains for Early Warning Analysis Utilization

Abstract

Early warning systems are responsible for monitoring crisis situations and generating warning signals of situations which escalate and pose a threat to international and human security. The application of this instrument often determines the success of preventive measures and efficiency of further crisis management. Being aware of the importance of this mechanism, the EU invested substantial resources for its development within the CFSP/CSDP framework. Nonetheless, the faulty institutional design and insufficient analytical capabilities of the EEAS put the applicability of the system in question. The article analyses a set of early warning institutional arrangements embedded in CFSP/CSDP institutional structure. In doing so, it describes and examines the main institutional and systemic constrains of early warning utilization in the EU conflict prevention framework.

Keywords

• conflict prevention
• early warning systems
• Common Foreign and Security Policy
• European External Action Service