Towards Open European Strategic Autonomy in Security and Defense: the Case of EU-Japan Cooperation

Motivated by the alarming scale of contemporary global challenges facing the European Union and the ongoing United States’ disengagement from its traditional role as security guarantor, this dissertation seeks to explore how the Union can become a more assertive global actor while remaining true to its spirit of openness. To this end, the analysis investigates to what extent the nature of the strategic partnerships forged by the EU with like-minded actors has evolved in response to the Union’s increasing drive towards a more autonomous stance in security and defense. This present research is conducted through a qualitative approach, combining a process tracing angle with an extensive analysis of official EU documents and speeches. This study reconstructs the historical and conceptual foundations of the idea of European strategic autonomy. It highlights how the Union can achieve a more autonomous posture by leveraging the added value arising from third States’ progressively deeper involvement in its Common Security and Defense Policy. Finally, it develops these insights through a case study, outlining the evolution of the EU-Japan strategic partnership through the lenses of European open strategic autonomy. The findings suggest that the EU’s strategic awakening, prompted by the need to better face pressing global challenges, led to a renewed European approach to strategic partnerships, complementing economic and broad political instruments with concrete security and defense collaborative platforms. Moreover, the analysis underscores the increasingly proactive role of the EU Commission and European External Action Service in advancing and implementing the Union’s open strategic autonomy’s vision in security and defense. This study contributes to the debate on European strategic autonomy by drawing attention to the outward-facing dynamics that are operating in the background of more visible internal efforts to strengthen the Union’s security and defense readiness.