Collective Securitization and Crisification of EU Policy Change: Two Decades of EU Counterterrorism Policy

This book represents the first attempt to evaluate the first two decades of the EU counterterrorism policy. It aims to assess the collective securitization process in EU counterterrorism, evaluating this as a process between a construction of security threats and the development of supranational governance through crisification.

Compared to the lack of shared perception of the terrorist threat and the virtual absence of counterterrorism cooperation amongst European states in the 1970s and 1980s, the existence of EU-wide debates, legislative instruments and practical cooperation nowadays is particularly remarkable. The chapters in this volume explore this change and seek to explain it by drawing upon the concept of ‘collective securitization’. The book posits that EU counterterrorism needs to be analysed as a process driven by collective securitization as part of an ongoing process of crisification that leads to increased supranational governance.

The book is both extremely relevant and timely for readers outside the area of research for several reasons. First of all, EU counterterrorism is often argued to be at the forefront of the EU’s response to new security threats. The ‘EU acquis’ on the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) has grown significantly over the last years. Consequently, it is crucial and very timely to examine EU counterterrorism – exactly 20 years after the first significant measures were adopted in the wake of 9/11.

The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Global Affairs.

Christian Kaunert is Professor of International Security at Dublin City University, Ireland. He is also Professor of Policing and Security, as well as Director of the International Centre for Policing and Security at the University of South Wales. In addition, he is Jean Monnet Chair, Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and Director of the Jean Monnet Network on EU Counter-Terrorism (www.eucter.net).

Sarah Léonard is Professor of International Security at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Prior to taking up her post at UWE Bristol, Sarah was Lecturer in International Security at the University of Salford, Marie Curie Research Fellow at Sciences Po Paris, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Dundee and Associate Professor in International Affairs at Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).​