European Security After 9 11

Much scholarly attention has been paid to the United States' response to the events of 9/11. This timely volume broadens our understanding of the impact of the attacks by instead considering their consequences for European security and for the relationship between the US and leading European states. Bringing together an impressive collection of experts this work will be an excellent resource for courses on international security, European politics and international relations.

This book traces the evolution of the EU’s fight against terrorism from the late 1970s until the end of the first decade after 9/11. This historical analysis covers both EU-internal and international counterterrorism policies and features an in-depth account of the EU’s reaction to the terrorist incidents in New York, Madrid and London. In the first few weeks after these incidents, the EU mobilised a complex but also incoherent set of policy measures, which significantly influenced the course of European security over the years. From a theoretical perspective, this volume argues that context-specific factors dominated over functionalist considerations in the EU’s fight against terrorism. Building on frameworks from public policy analysis, the author demonstrates that EU institutions played a critical role as policy entrepreneurs, while the many security measures were chosen on the basis of timing rather than significance. Such short-term political dynamics also explain the implementation deficits and persistent imbalances in the EU’s counterterrorism policy; limitations which still hinder its fight against international terrorism. This book will be of much interest to students of EU policy, counter-terrorism, European security, public administration, foreign policy, and IR in general.

At a time of unprecedented turmoil in the transatlantic relationship, as America asserts its right to act unilaterally to defend itself against terrorism and Europeans are increasingly aggressive in promoting a multilateralist approach to security issues, this book examines the post-9/11 and Iraqi war security environment, especially the impact on NATO and transatlantic relations as the European Union seeks to build a unified foreign and defence policy that will enable Europeans to play a fuller role in the international system.

Iraq can be considered the 'perfect storm' which brought out the stark differences between the US and Europe. The disagreement over the role of the United Nations continues and the bitterness in the United States against its betrayal by allies like France is not diminishing. Meanwhile, the standing of the United States among the European public has plummeted. Within Europe, political tensions between what US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld euphemistically called the 'Old' Europe and the 'New' Europe continue to divide. To fully comprehend these rifts, this volume takes a specific look at the core security priorities of each European state and whether these interests are best served through closer security collaboration with the US or with emerging European structures such as the European Rapid Reaction Force. It analyzes the contribution each state would make to transatlantic security, the role they envisage for existing security structures such as NATO, and the role the US would play in transatlantic security.

This book analyses the cooperation between the European Union and the United States on internal security and counter-terrorism since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In particular, four areas of cooperation are examined: customs and supply chain security; judicial cooperation (the mutual legal assistance and extradition agreements); law enforcement cooperation (the Europol-US agreements); and the EU-US agreements for the sharing of air passengers’ data (PNR agreements). These cases are analysed through a conceptual framework based on the theories of international regimes, with the data being drawn from an extensive documentary analysis of media sources collected through the 'Nexis' database, official documents, and from 13 semi-structured elite interviews with US and EU officials. The book argues that the EU and the US have established a transatlantic internal security regime based on shared principles, norms, rules, and interests. While at the beginning of this process the EU had a more reactive and passive stance at the later stages both the EU and the US were active in shaping the transatlantic political agenda and negotiations. The book demonstrates how the EU has had a much more proactive role in its relations with the US than has often been assumed in the current literature. This book will be of much interest to students of EU policy, foreign policy, international security and IR in general.

This book offers a theoretically informed analysis of how coherently the European Union fights terrorism in the post-9/11 era. Few studies have looked at how the European Union has transformed into a relevant international anti-terrorist actor. Yet, as a reaction to the terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London, the European Union has become increasingly active in the field of counter-terrorism. It has acted to coordinate member states’ policies, to harmonise national legislation, and even to support operational work conducted by national authorities. The EU’s reaction to the threat of transnational terrorism has been complex and multidimensional, ranging from the exchange of information between police and intelligence agencies to judicial cooperation, and from infrastructure protection to the fight against terrorist recruitment and financing. This book offers a comprehensive empirical account of the polity, policy and politics of EU counter-terrorism, based on an analysis of academic literature, official documents, and about fifty interviews with policy-makers, experts and practitioners carried out at EU institutions (i.e. Commission, Council, Eurojust, Europol), Permanent Representations of the EU Member States and national capitals. This book will be of much interest to students of counter-terrorism, EU politics, security studies and IR in general.

Since the closing years of the Cold War, European member states and their transatlantic allies have been involved in vigorous debates about the future configuration of security and defence arrangements for the old continent. Since December 1998, these debates have produced more progress towards a European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) than in the previous fifty years. That progress was galvanised by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The debate has essentially turned around three inter-related challenges emerging from the end of the Cold War. How to introduce security and defence policy issues into the European Union as prescribed by the Maastricht Treaty. How to maximise European security and defence autonomy in terms of both political decision-making and military capacity. How to retain US commitment to European security through a restructured Atlantic Alliance guaranteeing Euro-Atlantic complementarity rather than contradiction.

How did the North European states react to the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001? Michael Karlsson argues that 9/11 led to a considerable pressure to strengthen rules and practices for counterterrorism and security, but that this pressure was mediated by several other conditions. The reforms were also affected by, among other things, how the threat of global terrorism was perceived, pressure from international institutions such as the UN, EU, and NATO, the domestic political context, and pre-existing rules and practices. His analysis uses the new institutionalism framework, tested through case studies of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The book offers a unique lens on the study of counterterrorism from a new theoretical and regional perspective.

Much scholarly attention has been paid to the United States' response to the events of 9/11. This timely volume broadens our understanding of the impact of the attacks by considering instead their consequences for European security and for the relationship between the US and leading European states. The book places into theoretical context the notion that the world changed by assessing shifting conceptions of security and warfare, linking this to new thinking in these areas. It also critically evaluates the idea that the war against terrorism is a manifestation of a cultural clash between the West and Islam, and provides detailed evaluations of British, French, German and Russian reactions to 9/11 and the subsequent war on Iraq. Bringing together an impressive collection of experts this work will be an excellent resource for courses on international security, European politics, and international relations.