| Review of: | Europeanization of National Security Identity: The EU and the Changing Security Identities of the Nordic States by P. Rieker |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Noel Parker |
| Reviewed in: | Journal of Common Market Studies |
| Date accepted online: | 28/03/2007 |
| Published in print: | Volume 45, Issue 1, Pages 211-229 |
Book Reviews
Pernille Rieker's book comes out of the Nordic International Affairs and Defence Studies environment, not only in its focus, but equally in its conceptual apparatus born of discourse analysis and the constructivist account of how discursive activity identifies security risks. The pearl of this approach has been 'securitization', successful discursive moves to identify certain 'objects' as 'existential threats', requiring special protection. This, as Rieker and many others have understood, entails a complementary notion of the identity of that which is protected: the state/nation/way of life/continent-wide peace etc. Hence, Rieker's study focuses on the relationship between this 'national security identity' and Europeanization - specifically the developing European security identity.
Rieker has asked a pertinent question of Europeanization: 'How [...] the development of a distinct EU security identity has influenced the security approaches and identities of the four Nordic states.' (p. 2). The interest of the national cases lies in their distinctive security histories, all more or less away from the mainstream of earlier European defence formations. She examines each country in turn, providing a good historical summary and an up-to-date account of political debates, security doctrines, institutional innovations, and policy moves. After each one she measures the country in question against a model of the institutionalization of a more 'European' identity, derived from Thomas Risse, Kathryn Sikkink and Frank Schimmelfennig, in which countries pass through superficial, 'instrumental' adaptation, but find in due course that their identity really is entwined in the identity discourse they adopted earlier - here, that of 'Europe'.
In a concluding chapter, as Rieker re-considers how well they match up to the model, the tone on Europeanization remains upbeat: 'While it took time before the Nordic states actually changed their security approaches [...] the development of the EU as a security actor has accelerated or facilitated such changes.'(pp. 177-8). Yet the studies have highlighted so many cross-currents that the reader wonders what is left of any unidirectional process of Europeanization. One of the four states (Norway) has never become an EU member; two (Norway and Denmark) have arguably become more Atlanticist - though with different military emphases; 'only in Sweden has there been a true change in identity' (p. 188). In all cases, it is fair to say, elites show more 'Europeanization' than populations; but in three (Norway, Denmark and Sweden) that remains a significant counterweight to the elite's identity-changes. In a setting where identities are being formulated against so many shifting poles - US activism; new military and communications technologies; globalization, technologi- cally different security risks; evolving statehood; shifting settings for professional co-operation; etc. - Europeanization begins to look like a ladder that helped this study up but will not take it to the next level.