Fulltext

Bridging the Security Gap through EU Rule of Law Missions? Rule of Law Administration by EULEX

Altwicker, Tilmann ; Wieczorek, Nuscha

In: Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2016, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 115-133

Ajouter à la liste personnelle
    Titre
    • Bridging the Security Gap through EU Rule of Law Missions? Rule of Law Administration by EULEX
    Auteur
    • Altwicker, Tilmann. * Dr. iur., LLM (CEU), Head of the Research Group on ‘Transnational Public Security Law', University of Basel; Email: tilmann.altwicker@unibas.ch .
    • Wieczorek, Nuscha. MLaw, LLM (Columbia), Research Fellow, University of Basel; Email: nuscha.wieczorek@unibas.ch .
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2016, vol. 21, no. 1, p. 115-133. Oxford University Press
    Autre version électronique
    Classification
    • Sciences sociales
    Mots clés
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:332670
    Summary
    EU civilian missions are a tool to bridge new security gaps. They focus on security problems that cannot be adequately addressed by military capabilities alone. These missions operationalize the idea of liberal peace, ie the link between the (democratic, liberal etc.) ‘quality' of domestic institutions and international peace. The purpose of these missions is to reform (or establish) a State security sector based upon these qualities. Taking the most advanced EU civilian mission to date, EULEX Kosovo, as an object of study, this article examines a particular legal problem that ensues when the rule of law is ‘exported': in order to fulfil its rule of law-exporting task, the mission enjoys broad executive powers. This, in turn, requires that the mission itself must be bound by the principles it seeks to ‘export'. The rule of law serves, in other words, both as a policy-tool and as a constraint for EULEX. As both dimensions are connected, the failure of one will likely affect the performance of the other. The article concludes that while the hybrid approach to the rule of law by EULEX is a promising tool to address security gaps resulting from new threats in post-conflict societies, the present weakness of the constraint function negatively affects the performance of the mission as a whole.