This major new text by a leading authority on European security provides a full assessment of the historical, political and systemic reasons behind the rise of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The author argues that the key issues involved - the challenges of defining a more balanced partnership between the two sides of the Atlantic and of transforming the EU from a civilian power into a new type of crisis management actor - are the most significant since the creation of NATO and the EU at the end of World War 2.