To what extent has Europe benefited from a "peace dividend" through the European Union and its budget?

Résumé du document

The notion of “peace dividend” was forged in the 1980s to convey an idea that had already been analysed before: the link between security/peace, and economic growth. Without going into further details, one may wonder if this economic theory can be applied to the European Union, which budget has known a massive increase since the beginning of the European construction. To what extent has Europe benefited from a « peace dividend » through the European Union and its budget? In order to answer this question, we need to tackle three steps of European integration. In a first part, it is necessary to define precisely what a peace dividend is, and to what extent the beginning of the European construction can be considered as resulting from a peace dividend. Then, we shall analyze the evolution of the EC budget, focusing particularly on the case of enlargements.

Extraits

[...] Thus, we cannot really argue that Europe got a peace dividend, considering the rise of military expenditures due to the cold war especially for the countries which armies were occupying Western Germany. But the beginning of the European construction can be considered as resulting from a peace dividend, since the common management of the production of the defence industry was the basis for a sustainable peace, and political cooperation, between the European nations. What about the rest of the European construction, with the different enlargements? [...]

[...] To what extent has Europe benefited from a peace dividend through the European Union and its budget? The notion of “peace dividend” was forged in the 1980s to convey an idea that had already been analysed before: the link between security/peace, and economic growth. Without going into further details, one may wonder if this economic theory can be applied to the European Union, which budget has known a massive increase since the beginning of the European construction. To what extent has Europe benefited from a peace dividend through the European Union and its budget? [...]

[...] Thus, none of the requirements of a peace dividend are met: the perspectives of the new budget confirm this tendency to maintain a “zero growth” budget. Besides, the liberalisation of trade makes it more difficult to increase, or even maintain stable, the Community's own resources. To conclude, I would definitely agree on the fact that the European construction, from the beginning, results from a peace dividend, in the broad sense of the word: peace was a determining factor in pushing Europeans to unite and to build an ambitious economic community, which budget increased considerably, helping countries to redress their economies outstandingly the Irish or Spanish economic “miracle” was mostly the result of the EC's help. [...]

[...] This brings us to a new question: how come European countries witnessed such an important growth when their defence expenditures kept increasing? Surely this phenomenon was not due to a peace dividend. The explanation of the reconstruction of European economies after World War II is often given by the Marshall Plan. From 1948 to 1951, indeed, this massive project brought nearly 12 billion dollars as a donation - to Western European countries. Great Britain got 24% of the credits, France Italy and Western Germany 11%. [...]

[...] This last step is the most interesting in the case of Europe, as it seems to apply to the European model of the last fifty years or so. The theory of peace dividend has often been analysed other way around”, with the idea that a healthy economy results from a situation of sustainable peace, and on the contrary, that a sick economy stems from a too great defence spending. This reversed theory is interesting as far as Europe is concerned, as we are going to see now. [...]