The EU as peace builder : a comparative analysis of civilian CSDP missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

Promoting peace and security (both internal and external) was identified as a key priority of the 2016 European Union Global Strategy. Indeed, the EU has carved a name for itself in the realm of peacebuilding, primarily through Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions. These have been a major feature of the EU’s foreign policy toolbox for almost two decades, with the aim of promoting EU norms and institutions while maintaining stability outside of its borders. Yet, despite over 30 missions to date, conflicts rage on, even in the EU’s immediate neighborhood. Leaving the question, is CSDP capable of achieving the EU’s peacebuilding goals? Using a comparative framework, this paper evaluates how two major EU civilian CSDP missions, the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUPM Bosnia) and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX Kosovo), reflect the EU’s role as a peacebuilder. Their success is evaluated in two ways, firstly through the immediate operational outcomes of the two missions, and secondly through an assessment of the long-term peacebuilding progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, building upon Annemarie Peen Rodt’s (2014) framework for evaluating CSDP success. International relations theory is also considered in explaining why these outcomes occurred as they did, and the suitability of the liberal peacebuilding model for peacebuilding in the Western Balkans is called into question. Ultimately, the thesis concludes that EUPM and EULEX were only partially successful in achieving the EU’s peacebuilding aims, reflecting the EU’s limited role as a peacebuilder