Putting security governance to the test

Recent debates in security policy have highlighted trends towards fragmentation, informalisation and privatisation in the diverse field of security policy, with its increasingly transnational security risks. In this context, the concept of security governance has risen to prominence and has inspired much valuable research. Yet, there are not only very different conceptual understandings of security governance; there is also a lack of clarity regarding its empirical manifestations and normative connotations.

After a decade of research, this book therefore puts security governance to the test and scrutinises its analytical and political pitfalls and potentials. It reviews the concept of security governance and identifies central conceptual, empirical and normative challenges that need to be addressed. Moreover, this book scrutinises critical examples of security governance from EU security policy as well as in a comparative regional perspective. Case studies include EU efforts to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia, combat terrorism inside European societies and protect critical infrastructures. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Security.

Hans-Georg Ehrhart is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), Germany, and Director of the Centre for European Peace and Security Studies at IFSH.

Hendrik Hegemann is Researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), Germany.

Martin Kahl is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), Germany, and Deputy Director of the Centre for European Peace and Security Studies at IFSH.