The dissertation is devoted to the complex disclosure of theoretical and practical issues of legal regulation of international cooperation of European Union Member States in the field of defense, studying of the origin and evolution of the main organizational and legal mechanisms of defense direction created within such cooperation, defining their legal nature peculiarities, clarifying their role in the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as in determining the influence of the European Union on the development of the architecture of European and global security.
The dissertation research identifies the main stages of the evolution of legal regulation of cooperation of European states in the field of defense, namely: 1) between the Congress of Westphalia in 1648 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815; 2) from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920; 3) from the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 to the beginning of the World War II in 1939; 4) from the beginning of the World War II in 1939 to the present day.
The proposed periodization reflects the evolution of forms of cooperation between European states in the field of security and defense from informal political consultations to the creation of the first international organizations aimed at becoming a center of cooperation between states on a wide range of issues, including security and defense.
Studying of the history of legal thought makes it possible to identify the transformation of views on the organizational forms of intergovernmental associations. The first attempts in the history of International Law to substantiate the necessity of creating, in particular to ensure security and defense, a confederation or federation, which were to include European countries (projects and proposals by P. Dubois, George of Podebrady, E. Cruce, Maximilien de Béthune, U. Penn, Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre etc.). In these projects, starting from the XIV-XV centuries, the ideas of introduction of collective security guarantees within the framework of associations of European states are also traced. However, due to the lack of political will of European monarchs, such projects were not implemented in practice.
It is found that the methods of cooperation between European states in the field of defense had also changed, in particular, it has been defined that there has been a gradual displacement of violent means of influencing in favor of mutual obligations of a voluntary nature.
Emphasis is placed on the fact that the intensification of cooperation between European states in the field of security and defense is primarily related to the events of World War II, the consequences of which undoubtedly had a decisive impact on accelerating European integration in many areas. It is established that one of the most important events in the postwar settlement of interstate relations was the founding in 1945 of the United Nations, which laid the legal foundations for the creation of a universal system of collective security. The norms of the UN Charter thus became the basis for the future formation of regional systems of collective security.
The preconditions and consequences of the military-political rapprochement of the USA and the countries of Western Europe, which found its legal form in the creation of NATO, are analyzed. The organization of the North Atlantic Treaty became a powerful Euro-Atlantic system of collective defense, the effective functioning of which blocked all long-term attempts by Western European countries to introduce a purely European system of collective defense.
Within the framework of the work, the origins of the formation of the European defense identity are studied in detail. It is defined, that the first attempts of Western European countries to create their own security structure took place shortly after the end of World War II. Thus, on March 17, 1948, Great Britain, France and the Benelux countries signed the Treaty on Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperation and Collective Self-Defense (Brussels Pact), the main purpose of which was to regulate the mutual obligations of Member States in the framework of collective defense against probable aggressor in Europe. The Western Union, an organization created as a result of signing the Pact, has laid the legal foundation for deepening cooperation between European states in the field of defense. However, the Pact's defense objectives were failed to materialize, as NATO's presence as a key guarantor of security on the European continent significantly hampered the ability of Europe's own defense systems and institutions to function effectively.
