Book Reviews
This is the seventh text in what is proving to be a series of consistently high quality. A particular hallmark of the Contemporary European Studies series is that there has been a preponderance of practitioner-academics as contributors. Cameron makes his second appearance in the series (the first as the co-author of The Enlargement of the European Union) and, again, draws upon his service in the European Commission to write authoritatively on a subject.
The text provides an extremely useful primer on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The utility of the book is not just in the body of the text but also in the well-chosen material for appendices and an extremely useful glossary of CFSP terminology.
The focus of Cameron’s book is threefold: an account of the development of the CFSP; an analysis of the successes and failures of the CFSP; and current and future challenges for the CFSP. The first quarter of the text is devoted to an historical overview: pre-CFSP attempts to develop foreign policy co-operation between the Member States, and the negotiations surrounding the creation of the CFSP with Yugoslavia as a backdrop. A second quarter provides an excellent overview of the structures for decision-making for the CFSP (down to working group level) and examines the policy area in operation through the coverage of three joint actions conducted under the CFSP pre-Treaty of Amsterdam.
In the second half of the text the thrust is one that is more reflective upon strengths and weaknesses of the CFSP and the international role of the EU in general. As the work was completed just after the Cologne European Council in June 1999, and before the reforms to the CFSP under the Treaty of Amsterdam (covered in full) had been fully implemented, there is considerable speculation on the impact of the treaty reform and the future development of the military security dimension of the CFSP. It would be interesting to read Cameron’s assessment of subsequent military security developments and the future development of the role of the EU’s Rapid Reaction Force.
Overall, the work provides an excellent introduction to the CFSP for a reader unfamiliar with the operation of the policy area. For the more CFSP-literate reader there is much to reflect upon and debate in Cameron’s final two chapters on the challenges facing the CFSP and its possible future development.
