Abstract

Today's realities have catapulted transnational terrorism to the top of the policy agenda of all European governments and of the EU itself. For the first time in over half a century, Europe finds itself forced to devote significantly more political attention and resources to national security - primarily because of so-called 'new terrorism'. Many of the EU's current political, economic and social plans could be severely (and adversely) affected by this new trend. The policy challenges involved in this are daunting indeed.

At the same time, this new terrorism has caught Europe largely unprepared - both conceptually and in policy terms. Conceptually, most theoreticians and analysts dealing with this issue concur that we have not come to grips yet with the complexities of this new threat. On the policy side, many investigative commissions and analytical reports have pointed out the often glaring deficiencies in the European instruments of statecraft that are at the disposal of various governments to deal with the new challenges connected to transnational terrorism. Many of the characteristics of this new challenge require innovative new approaches that typically challenge the ways in which governments do business today.

The research project Transnational Terrorism, Security, and the Rule of Law aims to answer some of the questions that arise from these challenges, both from a scientific point of view and with the specific aim to provide policy recommendations.

Transnational terrorism is one of the most substantial threats to security and the Rule of Law within the European Union. Approaches towards this problem, however, diverge. As Member States implement different policies based on differing basic assumptions, a structured, univocal strategy towards transnational terrorism is absent. Considering the continuing integration within the European Union, a Union-level strategy with regards to terrorism is imperative. In order to support the formulation of such a strategy, this project will study both the conceptual nature of the problems identified here, and the possible measures flowing from these assumptions.

This project will entail a structured, well-founded survey into the various response options towards transnational terrorism and the theoretical assumptions on which they are based. A holistic approach has been chosen in which policy-areas specifically dealing with terrorism as well as affected policy-fields are taken into account. In this respect, this project is unique in that it integrates diverse aspects of the issue into one comprehensive and multidisciplinary project. The main added value of the project will lie in the benchmarking of approaches and policy-options in use in the various Member States. Combined with the conceptual underpinnings of this benchmarking exercise, the project will yield insights into the appropriateness and effectiveness of various approaches and measures from a national and a European perspective, the ethical issues related to this field, and cost-benefit considerations.

TTSRL is divided into several Workpackages and Deliverables. For an overview of these and a workplanning, please click here.