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Since 1999, the European security and defence policy has been at the centre of many debates and questions. Oddly enough, observers have neglected the European Union’s civilian capabilities for crisis management and focused instead on its military aspects. And yet the civilian dimension of ESDP is a novel and promising tool for responding more efficiently to contemporary security challenges. As the EU is developing its “non military” dimension in the framework of the Civilian Headline Goal 2008, this article seeks to clarify the poorly understood concept of “civilian crisis management.”