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Are you passionate about EU law and Europe’s military security? If so, then we have a PhD position for you at Utrecht University!
The European Union has historically been framed as an economic giant and political dwarf. More than 30 years after the Treaty of Maastricht created EU competences in the fields of defence and foreign policy, there is still no consensus on the nature of the EU as a geopolitical actor. Ever since the EU’s 2016 Security Strategy, the ambition to become a stronger geopolitical actor has been embodied by the concept of strategic autonomy. In plain terms, the notion refers to the capacity of the EU to act independently and without reliance on actors from third countries in those policy areas which are strategically important; in particular in the area of defence industries.
While the structures of the international order are rapidly shifting, the EU’s constitutional foundations have largely remained the same. National sovereignty still forms the foundation for military capabilities. The concrete meaning of European strategic autonomy therefore remains inconclusive.
As a PhD researcher, you will undertake a four-year research project aimed at identifying and critically examining the constitutional foundations of strategic autonomy in the field of defence industries. To achieve this, you will integrate classical legal-doctrinal research methods with theoretical insights from geopolitics (international relations) and empirical insights from EU policymaking.
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