Agencification in the EU Common Security and Defence Policy: The European Defence Agency

Abstract

‘Agencification’ is one of the most widespread phenomena in the current European politico-administrative space. However, while academic literature has mostly focused on the Executive Agencies under the Commission framework, little attention has been devoted to the study of the Agencies of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). In this context, the European Defence Agency (EDA) is a particularly interesting case-study, because it is a unique laboratory where we can observe the interactions between three types of experts: those working directly within the agency, experts’ representatives of member states and non-governmental experts from industry and academia.

EDA has institutionalised a peculiar ‘experimental governance’ model to coordinate its activities, able to involve all the different stakeholders in the EU defence field. This network of experts is producing a process of informal socialisation among defence practitioners and it is legitimising the role of EDA in the wider EU institutional field.

Keywords: Agencification, European Defence Agency, expertise, networks, security governance