Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

In the context of Russia’s renewed war against Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, the European Union (EU) has undertaken unprecedented decisions, suggesting a deepening of integration. This challenges debates on the ‘renationalization’ and ‘de-Europeanization’ of EU security and defence policy, signaling an emergent Brusselization. Through an analysis of key defence initiatives – inter alia, EDIS, EDF, EDIRPA, ASAP, and EDIP – the thesis examines the European Defence Union (EDU) discourse as constructed and employed by the European Commission to legitimize advanced EU defence integration following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It examines how language and materiality intersect within sociotechnical imaginaries to further EU defence integration. Research on EU defence integration is predominantly rooted in neopositivist explanatory logics, often treating integration as a linear progression driven by external threats or functional pressures. Such literature tends to overlook ideational and material aspects of EU defence integration. Drawingon new materialism as an overarching meta theoretical orientation and Jasanoff’s (2015) conceptualization of sociotechnical imaginaries, the thesis examines the coalescence of language and materiality in constructing an EDU discourse. Methodologically, it employs Laclau & Mouffe’s (1985) Discourse Theory to illuminate how nodal points such as ‘strategic autonomy’, ‘resilience’, and ‘innovation and competitiveness’ stabilize the EDU discourse, fostering a ‘Brussels-driven’ defence integration. The thesis contributes to scholarship at the intersection of EU Studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS) by demonstrating the applicability of new materialism to the EU’s evolving defence architecture. Additionally, it offers an empirical contribution by conceptualizing the EDU as a constructed and employed by the European Commission to advance defence integration, challenging prevailing assumptions about the improbability of supranational integration in defence.