In The European Union and the Use of Force, Julia Schmidt examines the development and activities of the EU as an emerging international military actor. The author offers a comprehensive analysis of the conditions under which the EU can engage in military crisis management operations from the perspective of EU law as well as from the perspective of public international law, with a particular emphasis on the EU’s relationship with the United Nations and the EU’s relationship with its Member States in the context of the use of force. Throughout the monograph, questions of European integration in the sphere of the common security and defence policy as well as the EU’s place and role within the international community are put into focus.