Catering Sticks and Carrots for the Global Security - Comparing the EU and the US Non-Proliferation Strategies

Abstract: The European Union (EU) and the United States (US) often use different foreign policy strategies. In their non-proliferation policies they have had somewhat different approaches towards the suspected proliferators. In this thesis the usefulness and effectiveness of these different strategies, containment and engagement, are studied within the question of non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. What kind of methods best answer to the threats facing the international security; those of positive or negative character? I compare the foreign policy actions of the EU and the US in their contemporary efforts with Iran and North Korea. By analysing the usefulness of differing positive and negative forms of statecraft I try to find indications of their usefulness in these recent foreign policy efforts. The analysis of the cases suggests that the EU and the US use different means in these cases to achieve the results. Whereas EU policies are not totally coherent in the cases, neither has the US one clear approach. The results show that both actors' strategies should be more mixed. Neither radical containment nor too positive engagement proves to be fruitful. Even though the engagement especially on the US side should not be underestimated, neither can the EU rely only on engagement if it wants to become a serious player in international relations.