Towards a Common, Restrictive EU Arms Export Policy? The Impact of the EU Code of Conduct on Major Conventional Arms Exports

Abstract: In recent years there has been a concerted attempt to harmonize European policies on arms exports. Of particular importance is the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, which lays out standard criteria for assessing applications for arms export licences. This process has been interpreted as the ‘Europeanization’ of EU arms export policies, understood as the process whereby key areas of national decision–making become increasingly subject to systems of multilevel governance. By analysing quantitative arms export data, this article assesses the impact that this process of Europeanization has had on the arms exports of EU Member States, that is, the extent to which it has created more harmonized and/or more restrictive arms export policies. The article finds that while certain of the normative values promoted by the EU Code are having an impact on Member State arms export policies, others are not. Meanwhile, there is little evidence of harmonization of arms export policies among Member States. This raises questions about the extent to which processes of Europeanization can be expected to impact on Member State behaviour in key areas of foreign and security policy and about the ability of the EU to act as a normative power.

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