... is the title of a conference paper I wrote for a conference in Stockholm a few days ago. It tries to analyze European and U.S. approaches to police assistance through the lens of strategic culture analysis. I chose post-Taliban Afghanistan as my case study, because both actors, the EU and the U.S., have been simultaneously involved in reforming the Afghan National Police since 2002/ 03.
In the paper I argue that despite conceptual differences between Europe and the U.S. that seem to confirm Robert Kagans 'Mars-Venus dichotomy' (check out his famous article here), the two approaches are mutually reinforcing on the ground. This is not to say that differences with regard to the strategic cultures of the EU and the U.S. do not exist, but rather that they are often overemphasized to camouflage the convergence of policies on the ground. You can find my paper here. As this paper is but a preliminary result of a current research undertaking of mine, all comments are most welcome.
