A Grand Strategy: does it matter in the real world?
In Egmont Paper No. 33 ‘The Value of Power, the Power of Values: A Call for an EU Grand Strategy’, edited by Sven Biscop, Egmont calls for an EU Grand Strategy completing the European Security Strategy by identifying EU interests and setting concrete objectives. A proactive EU, acting as a true global power, must result. Some of Europe’s leading strategic thinkers react to Egmont’s proposals in its series of Security Policy Briefs. In this paper of the Grand Strategy Project series, Brigadier-General Jo Coelmont, Senior Associate Fellow at Egmont, observes that historically Europe built itself without clear strategy (the so-called méthode Monnet), and that past and present civil-military operations are more the result of opportunities than true strategic thinking. However, he argues, now the time seems particularly favourable to develop an EU Grand Strategy.
(Photo credit: ILA-boy, Wikimedia Commons)