A farewell to human security in EU policy thinking?

REGROUP FOCUS PAPER No. 6 (2025)

Emboldened by the Western-dominated, unilateral moment after the end of the Cold War, inspired by intellectuals who valued civil society at the expense of realpolitik, the EU aspired to construct a foreign policy based on values and to influence world affairs according to its image and likeness. In this context of confidence, the EU approached human security distinctively through the decades of the 2000s and 2010s. There was an emphasis on multilateralism and the nurturing of new partnerships; on connecting global agendas and local needs; on combining instruments to manage multiple facets of crises; on aligning short-term and long-term approaches to building human security. Today, however, human security has suffered two backlashes. Firstly, the application of the concept has been difficult. In striving for an increasingly multidimensional, broad, and inclusive approach, the EU’s human security framework has weakened its edge and deferred tangible results. Secondly, a return of realpolitik in the European thinking of security has replaced peace and emancipation with militarised notions of security and defence. This paper not only argues that Europeans may have lost their moral backbone in foreign policy but also serves as a call to rethink and deepen security in EU policy thinking.

Keywords: Human Security; European Union; defence; crisis; peace