The CFSP in synergetic theorising: Explaining the CFSP via a multi-causal and muilti-level analytical model. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 8, No. 7, May 2008.

Usually, theoretical approaches and/or analytical models used in the study of the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) are build on 'unicausal influences' and on just one 'level of analysis'. No doubt, such perspectives are parsimonious and elegant in their character. However, they exclude important elements in the CFSP's existence and development. By doing so, they are narrow in their analytical scope. The conclusion is that the CFSP is a complex object of analysis, requiring complex analytical models. This paper offers a new, multi-causal and multi-level framework based on three integration theories each for one relevant level of analysis. The model, so goes the argument, can account for significant factors that influence the institutional development of the CFSP. By this example, complex analytical frameworks, as the paper argues, are necessary both in order to better manage the examinations of complex subject matters and in order to fully explain their institutional developments