The European Union’s strategic adaptation to new threats: From normative to pragmatic strategic culture

This article examines how the European Union’s strategic culture has evolved across three key strategy documents: the European Security Strategy, the European Union Global Strategy, and the Strategic Compass, and whether these shifts are reflected in post-2016 institutional practices. Using qualitative content analysis, it compares change across four dimensions: identity, threat perception, strategic response, and autonomy. The findings show a shift from a predominantly normative and civilian orientation towards a hybrid strategic culture combining normative commitments with pragmatic and geopolitical elements. Recent strategies increasingly emphasise explicit threat identification, hybrid warfare, and military preparedness. However, this does not amount to a transition towards a fully autonomous military actor. Instead, growing operational ambition coexists with continued reliance on North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Euro-Atlantic frameworks. Empirical illustrations demonstrate that adaptation is most advanced in hybrid and resilience domains, while high-intensity security remains North Atlantic Treaty Organization-centred. The article argues that European Union strategic culture is best understood as hybrid, rather than as a linear shift from normative to realist.