International Social Science Journal (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2025

 

 

Xing Ruilei

 

This paper systematically examines the structural evolution of the EU security governance system and its institutional dilemmas. The study found that the EU security governance system, in the process of responding to environmental pressures, has been characterized by a typical feature of adaptive degradation due to the institutional tension between the logic of security and the logic of development, leading to a continuous erosion of the EU’s governance effectiveness. By integrating historical institutionalism and the security-development nexus theory, the study identifies three mechanisms that trigger the adaptive degradation of the EU security governance system: external crisis-driven stressful institutional innovations deviate from initial governance objectives; the tension between security and development goals intensifies, triggering the malfunctioning of policy instruments and creating a two-way negative feedback on the functioning of the system; goal alienation locks in the path of institutional reform and creates a self-reinforcing vicious circle. Based on the analysis of the historical evolution of the EU’s security governance system from the Maastricht Treaty to the Treaty of Lisbon, the study confirms that the continuous weakening effect of the EU’s institutional resilience in responding to security challenges is the main reason why the EU’s security governance system has fallen into an adaptive dilemma.