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In 2002, when setting up the Institute for Security Studies as a distinctively European venture, the Union''s aim was to promote a progressively more European strategic debate that would transcend different cultures and national interests in security matters: an Institute that would ‘think European’, work with national institutes on joint projects, bring the different national security cultures together and put each one into perspective, with the general interest of the Union always its prime consideration.Today, although Europeans may be somewhat prone to self-doubt, their desire for a stronger Europe on the international scene remains solid. And of course, national public opinion is frequently more ambitious than governments in this field. The citizen expects Europe to be a credible international player, influential and respected,capable of providing aid and of generating greater security, but also, with its views and values, of making its mark on the emergence of international governance in an age of globalisation. The European Union Institute for Security Studies, ... has fully succeeded in taking up this dual challenge of the Union''s coherence and its intellectual visibility. The Institute has become an authoritative point of reference in Europe and much further afield. Its publications have become works of reference on the specific manner in which Europeans analyse crises and view the world. The presence of the Institute''s researchers at many international conferences as helped enormously to increase awareness of the European approach to the major security issues.The Institute must continue on that course. One of the consequences of globalisation is the increased complexity and interaction of the factors that determine the development of the international system. The Union needs the Institute to help it make sense of this complexity.Because foreign policy is no longer restricted to relations between States, because ideas can make or break a world that is increasingly difficult to interpret, the international role of the European Union must reflect this reality: the strategic debate needs new, and specifically European, ideas.
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