The Common Foreign and Security Policy and weak states :the case of Greece

Abstract

This thesis endeavours to present a systematic and rigorous examination of the Common Foreign and Security Policy in relation to the Weak European Union member states, by analysing the role, contribution, and participation of Greece in the CFSP framework. Reference is also being made to other weak EU member states such as Ireland, Portugal and Belgium. Chronologically, the thesis is focused on the period from 1981 to 1994 and it is built upon thematic entities and does not intend to follow any chronological sequence. It attempts to address the following key issues: The distinctive elements of EU's weak member states' attitudes towards EPC/CFSP; the ways in which Greece had responded to the institutional development of the CFSP; the way in which Greece had handled its role and participation in the EPC and CFSP frameworks; the impact of EPC/CFSP participation on the formulation and implementation of Greece's foreign policy; and Greece's contribution in EPC/CFSP. The thesis addresses four important dimensions of European Union framework for political co-operation and co-ordination: first, its theoretical basis; second its impact upon the weak EU member states; third, its institutional development; and finaffy its implications in the formulation of Greek foreign and security policy. its main theoretical ambition is to assess the validity of the theory of Modified Structural Realism to the extent that it is applied as an explanatory theoretical framework for the institutional development of the Common Foreign and Security Policy in relation to its irnpact on the weak EU member states having Greece as a case study. To measure CFSP's overall success and its inipact upon Greek politics, the thesis will examine key structural and procedural developments and policy initiatives and assess whether the Greek objectives have been fulfilled based on the following key variables: the behavioural patterns of weak states in foreign policy issues; the domestic sources of weak states' foreign policy; the dynamics of changing relationships and the adaptation of weak states; and the resources and perspectives of the diplomatic and strategic regimes.