The Rise of China and the Departure of America: Operational Implications for Europe (2013 Joint Course Prize Paper).

This study analyses how the rise of China will change the international system and how it will alter decisions and actions taken by the United States. As such, it will also analyse the operational implications for Europe resulting from the United States military capabilities' relocation to Asia-Pacific. This is an important topic as the European Union enters the era of new international order and faces new challenges for its security cooperation. By defining a security strategy the EU has acknowledged the importance of European cooperation as well as cooperation with the United States. Nevertheless it still examines the ways to cooperation. This paper utilises Realism -- in particular, the Power Transition Theory -- to account for China's rise and America's response to it. It combines theory with historic and contemporary actions, draws conclusions and makes recommendations. The study finds that with the United States' rebalancing of its military efforts to the Asia-Pacific, which could be compounded should the US become distracted by a crisis in East-Asia, Europeans may face a number of capability-driven operational implications as well as operational implications resulting from political differences, should they seek to undertake their own military operations. This work also analyses existing and evolving forms of security cooperation within Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]