European homeland security : a European strategy in the making?

Abstract

This book examines the processes and factors shaping the development of homeland security policies in the EU, within the wider context of integration.The European Union functions in a complex security environment, with perceived security threats from Islamist terrorists, migration and border security issues, and environmental problems. In order to deal with these, the EU has undertaken a number of coordinated actions, including, among others, the adoption of the European Union Security Strategy in 2003, the Information Management Strategy of 2009, and the Internal Security Strategy of 2010. However, despite such efforts to provide direction and achieve a more concerted European action in the field of security, there are still many questions about the extent to which the European approach is really a strategic one. Can it be strategic at all if several security aspects are addressed separately rather than in a framework of a more general ‘homeland security’ policy? What would be potential benefits of looking at the European Union’s security policies as ‘homeland security’ rather than fragmented ‘internal security’? This volume addresses two major debates i relation to the development of homeland security in Europe. First, it reflects on the absence of ‘homeland security’ in European political debate and its potential consequences. It demonstrates that homeland security remains a controversial term in Europe and looks into the added value that a reference to homeland security could bring. Second, it looks at the development of what can be seen as the policy area of‚ European homeland security‘ to be distinguished from the political label of ‚homeland security', and seeks to understand whether it was a strategic or rather an accidental development.