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Terrorism and the EU Counter-Terrorism Policies

Selected e-articles

Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive exploration of counterterrorism, focusing on its intricate sociopsychological and geopolitical dimensions. It draws its foundations from a scientific expedition to Egypt conducted in 2021, which forms the basis for understanding the interplay between civilized and uncivilized societies within the realm of political marketing. By analyzing historical precedents and contemporary cases, it elucidates how terrorism has seamlessly integrated into the fabric of global geopolitics, with private entities now adopting tactics previously exclusive to military and intelligence agencies. The central thesis posits that, despite public condemnation of terrorism, most nations are involved in various degrees of these clandestine activities. At the core of this discussion lies the concept of the “Third Force,” illustrating how territories have historically been manipulated into uncivilized territories to further geopolitical agendas. This concept challenges the conventional replication of counterterrorism strategies worldwide. By unveiling these intricate dynamics, this article not only challenges established norms but also offers a thought-provoking framework for comprehending the complexities of terrorism in the contemporary world.

Abstract: This article provides a modern overview of counterterrorism tools and their trade-offs for curbing terrorist attacks and their consequences. Defensive and proactive countermeasures constitute two main classes of counterterror tools deployed by targeted governments. The primary drawback of defensive actions, which make terrorist attacks more costly and less apt to succeed, is attack transference that shifts the mode, venue, or target of attacks to those less protected. In contrast, offensive proactive measures, which confront the terrorists directly, may result in backlash as terrorist sympathizers, the public, and state sponsors augment their terrorist support resulting in more recruitment and attacks. Other essential trade-offs are identified and discussed. Additionally, we formulate a two-stage canonical game-theoretic model involving a targeted government and a terrorist group adversary. This model accounts for defensive and proactive policies but also myriad scenarios. As such, it serves as a foundation to explain the modern counterterrorism literature as illustrated by a discussion of iconic contributions to the study of counterterrorism.

Abstract: Control orders are restrictive measures placed on individuals that pose an identified threat to public safety as a component of domestic counterterrorism policy. Control orders and their compliance with International Human Rights Law have been the subject of extensive litigation within the European Court of Human Rights and domestic states courts. Controlling provisions are applied in either the preconviction or the post-release stage of a state's criminal procedure. Preconviction control orders face significant criticism for the potential conflicts with due process protections of the right to a fair trial and the broader right of liberty. This Note describes the current jurisprudence and analyzes its potential application to states that have yet to fully establish control order regimes. Because there is a lack of evidence indicating that preconviction control orders are necessary to prevent coordinated terrorist attacks, this Note finds that states should weigh the protection of individual liberties over the undetermined benefits of such restrictions. This Note concludes that states should only utilize pre-conviction control orders in the narrowest sense with ample oversight and judicial review mechanisms. It also concludes, however, that post-release control orders should be adopted into any system focused on terrorism prevention to prevent recidivism and ensure the reintegration of individuals previously engaged in terrorism-related activities into society. This Note is particularly pertinent to the number of Balkan states that are currently planning or considering implementing extensive control order regimes.

Abstract: Security Risk Analysis consists an important tool that can be leveraged to properly process information related to National Security and draw useful conclusions through appropriate analytical products. The European Union formulated the appropriate legislation and established new organizations to ensure its external and internal security such as Frontex, designed and developed, in collaboration with the member states, a new security risk analysis tool, the Common Integrated Risk Analysis Model (CIRAM). This paper seeks to approach and examine descriptively, both the elements of this model and its appropriateness to carry out Counterterrorism Risk Analysis.

Abstract: This article investigates member state influence on the making of EU counter-terrorism policy. Crucially, member states have not been viewed as major drivers of change in EU counter-terrorism, despite their experience of attacks, policy expertise, and the domestic salience of the issue. To address this gap, I show how member states acted as policy entrepreneurs during EU Passenger Name Records (EU-PNR), on which final agreement was reached in 2016. Specifically, I demonstrate that the UK Home Office was a prominent, long-term actor in the development of the EU’s counter-terrorism policy and worked with the Commission to build an alliance in favour of EU-PNR. However, it was only with the ‘window of opportunity’ presented by jihadi terrorist attacks between 2015 and 2016 that members of the French government were finally able to pressure critical elements of the European Parliament into agreement.

Abstract: This paper investigates the extent to which the European Union is strategically engaging against terrorism. It builds on traditional scholarship on strategic thinking and elaborates an analytical framework to empirically assess strategic policy formulation at the supranational level in the case of terrorism. The framework revolves around three analytical categories: i) threat assessment; ii) objectives setting; and iii) policy measures. Through qualitative content analysis of text data, we show that, while objectives are clearly presented in the documents, the threat that the strategy is supposed to counter is unspecified. In addition to that, the formulation of concrete policy measures remains largely vague. Overall, the article adds to the growing academic debate on EU security governance and offers fresh empirical insights on strategic thinking in counterterrorism policy.

Abstract: There are two main categories of counterterrorism policies: proactive and defensive measures. Proactive policies directly target terrorists and, by weakening their ability, share public good features. Defensive measures, on the other hand, seek to protect a potential target. Unilateral defensive measures may induce terrorists to replace one target with another, possibly a foreign one, as confirmed by the succession of terrorist attacks in the European Union over the last 20 years. We analyse different institutional frameworks to determine the best one for interstate cooperation considering the externationalites of various counterterrorism measures. This article highlights the combined effect of voter propensity towards defensive policies, certain intelligence policies and different institutional scenarios on the (in)efficient strategic choice of counterterrorism defensive policies in democratic countries, where efficiency means maximising the joint welfare of countries. We consider four different institutional scenarios: decentralisation, intelligence cooperation, unanimous political cooperation and full political union. We model these situations as a three-stage signalling game and show that, surprisingly, intelligence cooperation increases the probability of efficient defensive policies more than unanimous political cooperation.

Abstract: Among a wide range of challenges, EU member states have been facing a growing threat from terrorism in the recent years. The primary responsibility for combating terrorism lies with each individual member state, although the threat is becoming increasingly cross-border and diverse. Regardless of whether terrorism poses a real or perceived threat to the states’ and citizens’ security, public opinion is one important force behind the extensive counterterrorism efforts undertaken in Europe. In this article, we explore the influence of public opinion on EU policy within the security domain in the period 2005–19. We investigate the relationship between the number of attacks carried out on EU territory and citizens’ increased concern for terrorist attacks, as well as the attention given to this topic by EU decision-makers. Based on data from Eurobarometer, the Global Terrorism Database, and evidence from official documents, we perform an analysis of the connection between public perception and anti-terrorism policy coordination in the EU. The results of this investigation point to increasing levels of collective securitization and an ever-stronger focus on security and counterterrorism in the European Union. Our findings are related to policy formation in the EU.

Abstract: In this article, we investigate how the EU mobilises a spatio-temporal imaginary of the “local” in its counter-radicalisation activities as a means of navigating subsidiarity principles and expanding its remit as a “holistic security actor” (cf. Baker-Beall [2016]. The European Union’s fight against terrorism: discourse, policies, identity. Manchester: Manchester University Press). Extant work on the EU’s terrorism prevention efforts has focused on how the organisation constructs transnational terror threats that require supranational, EU-level responses. Our research makes an original contribution to these literatures by demonstrating how the EU also seeks to intervene “below” the level of the nation state. EU counter-radicalisation works directly with subnational actors in municipalities, cities, and frontline public services across Member States. Employing the first systematic analysis of the EU’s Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) outputs, we demonstrate how “the local” frames pre-emptive counter-terrorism interventions as “upstream”. “Closer”, or “localised”, reads as “earlier” in this discourse. We also unpack how EU institutions and Member States have voiced concerns about the circumvention of subsidiarity (through engagement with local actors across the Union), by criticising the “effectiveness” of RAN. While the European Commission has taken steps towards addressing these grievances, its proposals reflect a further renegotiation and repositioning of the EU as a security “facilitator” across spaces deemed simultaneously local and transnational.

Abstract: Both national and EU officials have repeatedly emphasized the need for a comprehensive and strongly coordinated EU counterterrorism policy in order to bring together the disparate measures taken by the member states, avoid duplication of action, involve uninterested member states, and to present the EU as a coherent counterterrorism actor. To address these concerns, the EU member states agreed to create the position of an EU Counterterrorism Coordinator in 2005, only to be followed in 2016 with the position of an EU Commissioner for Security Union. A question therefore arises as to whether the EU needs two counterterrorism coordinators. This article addresses this question by utilizing Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, doxa, and habitus and argues that there is no apparent rationale for the coexistence of two EU Counterterrorism Coordinators with an overlapping mandate and minimal material, similar cultural and vastly disparate symbolic capital.

Abstract: This article examines the role of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR) in the counter terrorism agenda and how it has been whittled according to the multiplicity and complexity of the several terrorism related crises in Europe, from Javier Solana to Federica Mogherini, following this special issue four faces taxonomy of Europe. It addresses how the different HRs explored terrorism as an existential threat and assesses their performance following Kingdon’s policy entrepreneurship framework and Mintrom’s research on policy entrepreneurship. It aspires to understand the hybrid nature and performance of the HRs as an institutional figure within the four faces of Europe framework and how the EU’s complex institutional structure stretches policy boundaries and compels the use of different decision-making mechanisms to deal with domestic, external and foreign components of counter-terrorism according to different materialisations of Europe’s Self and Others.

Abstract: Proportionality is a key principle of EU law. However, in spite of procedural requirements intended to ensure the full integration of proportionality as a design principle in EU law, the European Union continues to pass disproportionate counterterrorism laws. If proportionality is a fundamental constitutional principle of the European Union, and if lawmaking processes at EU level have been designed expressly with this in mind, then why do the EU’s counterterrorism laws consistently raise issues of disproportionate interference with rights? Taking as a case study the passage of the EU Directive on Combating Terrorism, this article argues that at least part of the answer lies in the curtailment and adjustment, in the counterterrorism field, of lawmaking processes that are designed to be participatory, evidence-based, and informed by proportionality.

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to examine the process of forming political and legal tools for counteracting and combating terrorism which has a significant impact on economic growth in the European Union. ... EU countries, despite the conflict of interest that often separates them, were able to jointly develop and implement a substantial package of regulations of a political and legal nature, which evolved from ad hoc activities to preventive measures. The areas that currently require special attention include cybersecurity, counteracting the sources of terrorism (radicalization of attitudes), combating social exclusion, proper physical protection of critical infrastructure and public spaces, as well as tightening international cooperation to cut off all sources of financing terrorism.

Abstract: Although many EU member states experienced large scale terrorist attacks and both national and EU policymakers have repeatedly acknowledged the need to tackle the apparent contradiction between borderless terrorism and national counterterrorism measures, a genuine supranational EU counterterrorism response has not emerged thus far. In this article, we explore why this has been the case. Via a set of proxy indicators, we operationalize and test three key variables derived from differentiated integration theory, which suggests that the lack of horizontal and vertical integration in the EU’s counterterrorism policy ought to be the result of high and asymmetric politicization, asymmetrical interdependence, and little preference convergence across EU member states. Our findings indicate that although all of these variables did influence integration in the first fifteen years of EU counterterrorism policy (2001–2016), only one variable (interdependence) acted exactly as expected by differentiated integration theory.

Abstract: By taking the European Union (EU) as a principal focal point, this chapter will evaluate critically the rule of law challenges arising from the production and operation of counterterrorism norms. The article will focus on four case studies, two involving the rule of law ex ante (at the stage of adoption of EU law) and two involving the rule of law ex post (looking at its impact). In terms of ex ante rule of law challenges, the chapter will analyse the production of binding standards by the global executive and the trickle-down effect of these standards at the regional, EU and national level and the limits of scrutiny and justification of counterterrorism legislation on emergency grounds. In terms of rule of law ex post, the chapter will examine challenges of counterterrorism law to the principle of legality via over-criminalisation and the adoption of vague and broad definitions of terrorism, as well as challenges to the right to a fair trial and principle of effective judicial protection resulting from state arbitrariness in the mechanism of producing terrorist sanctions. The contribution will question whether the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and the process of constitutionalisation of criminal law it entailed, has made a difference regarding the compliance of EU counterterrorism law with the rule of law.

Abstract: In this article the author discusses the evolution of the European Union's counter-terrorism policy. Topics include that terrorism is the unlawful use of violence or intimidation, especially against civilians; and the creation and exploitation of fear through violence or threat of violence in pursuit of political, religious or ideological objectives.

Abstract: This article assesses the increasingly important and diverse role undertaken by a range of ‘soft-law’ counter-terrorism instruments since September 2001. It starts from the proposition that states increasingly use soft-law standards to regulate in the counter-terrorism, countering violent extremism and preventing violent extremism arenas. The article identifies a broad range of soft-law instruments and assesses their normative and practical importance for states. In parallel, the analysis identifies and maps a range of new institutions and entities producing such norms, paying particular attention to their membership, legal basis, terms of reference and working methods. The role and importance of these new institutions is broadly addressed. The article argues that soft-law production in counter-terrorism has weakened human rights protections across the globe and provided cover for sustained rights violations in multiple national contexts. As a result, human rights norms are not meaningfully included in the creation and implementation of these norms. The article pays particular attention to the lack of pathways for human rights standards to be meaningfully integrated, accounted for and benchmarked in the creation of counter-terrorism soft law. It identifies the ways in which new institutions have inter alia been established precisely to avoid the normative and institutional application of these standards to the counter-terrorism norm creation process. The article starts to trace the movement of some ‘soft-law’ norms to hard-law standards, illustrating the dense relationship between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ law in the counter-terrorism arena.

Abstract: Recent years have seen an emerging consensus on the important role non-judicial actors can play in protecting rights, and the potential benefits of integrating the compliance with constitutional standards into the legislative process. However, the study of actual practices of pre-enactment rights scrutiny has highlighted the need for deeper analysis of the factors that ultimately determine the extent to which rights considerations are effectively taken into account in policy design. The three case studies in this symposium contribute to the growing empirical literature on non-judicial constitutional review. Each article follows a particular counterterrorism legislation process and analyzes the ways in which consideration of rights effected or failed to effect policy design. These nuanced and empirically grounded perspectives on what rights review in the policymaking process actually entails help point out mechanisms that positively affect the ability to create proportionate policy, while documenting barriers at both the individual and organizational levels that can prevent rights from being afforded their optimal weight in the process. This introduction presents the main comparative insights arising from the three case studies in the symposium. The first point relates to the identity of and dynamic between the actors who engage with rights in the process, particularly the interaction between political and bureaucratic actors and its effect on the nature of the rights discourse and its impact. The second point characterizes three types of stages in the policy process—stages of deliberation, evaluation, and justification—and demonstrates how the nature of engagement with rights differs at each stage in terms of substance, scope, and influence. The third and final point relates to the ramifications of the layered nature of policymaking for the possibility of truly engaging with considerations of rights.

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the problem of combating terrorism by the government, which is one of the most serious problems that direct governments and countries. We formulate the problem and use the Nash approach of a differential game to obtain the optimal strategies for combating terrorism. We study the relationship between each of the government’ strategies and terrorism when the government is on the defensive (reactive), and we study when the government expects terrorist attacks and develops its strategies to combat terrorism. Also, we study the relationship between government activity and its strategies as well as government activity and the strategy of terrorist organizations.

Abstract: Political leaders, philosophers, sociologists, historians, political scientists, law scholars and economists approach terrorism in diverse ways, especially its definition. Politicians assign the meaning to the term terrorism that best suits them. Political scientists analyze the actions of those in the geopolitical framework. Moral philosophers look at terrorism from the viewpoint of fairness. Historians make a comparative assessment of the phenomenon through its evolution over time, and scholars of law simply dissect counterterrorism measures and assess their consistency with customs and current legislation. Sociologists stress the importance of culture, social relationships and social interactions. Eventually, politicians and lawmakers are not immune to the influence of the common ethics and morals of their own societies and the uses and habits of their own cultures, including religious aspects. Morals and ethics relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct; the first provides guiding principles, and the latter refers to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. While morals are concerned with principles of right and wrong, ethics are related to right and wrong conduct of an individual in a particular situation. Ethics, morals and religion are intertwined in the antithetical principles “good and evil.” This work aims to scrutinize the crucial concept of just and unjust war, and just and unjust combatants, and to elaborate on some critical moral and ethical elements within the modern understanding of the interplay between terrorism, counterterrorism, fundamental human rights, and international humanitarian law. Through the examination of all pertinent theoretical positions the paper seeks to shed light on the limits of the use of force and the justification of the violation of fundamental rights in the War on Terror.

Abstract: Terrorism has become an emerging challenge to human rights protections today. Although terrorism has been present throughout modern history, international concern against it has become more visible since September 11, 2001. The international community  has  adopted  various  instruments on counterterrorism, provisions of which have been incorporated into the domestic laws of different countries. These instruments representing the current counterterrorism regime prioritise national security over other issues including human rights. Therefore, while employing counterterrorism measures states often tend to promote their security at the expense of the lives, liberties, and properties of civilians. To protect the human rights of innocent people against such actions it is crucial to adopt an effective counterterrorism regime. This article explores how states could establish such a regime. It suggests that the proposed regime should be based on the human rights framework. The principles of necessity and proportionality will provide a useful guideline in this respect. 

Abstract: This is an article by a practitioner who has worked on two sides of the divide between countering terrorism and protecting human rights, both as Netherlands Human Rights Ambassador and later as the Dutch Special Counterterrorism Envoy. What was most striking in looking at these two periods that were roughly a decade apart, was how different the issues and perspectives at the junction of countering terrorism and respecting human rights were. These can be attributed to three factors: 1) that in the first period the shock of 9/11 was still new and the US was in overdrive; 2) the differences between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State; and 3) revolutionary technological changes that have an impact on human rights and on the way a terrorist organization can function these days.

Abstract: The interaction of international counter-terrorism laws with IHL is an area of renewed focus, amid widespread concern that the former are being (mis)applied to criminalise the provision of humanitarian assistance envisaged under the latter. The Security Council has begun to consider this issue in resolutions adopted in March and July 2019, but difficult questions of law and fact remain. These questions have significant practical consequences--for humanitarian agencies and those they seek to assist, as well as for States that must weigh different, and possibly conflicting, legal obligations. Much of the analysis to date and the solutions proposed, pay insufficient attention to the specifics of each legal regime.

Abstract: The departure of substantial numbers of 'foreign fighters' and the occurrence of terrorist attacks on European soil have prompted renewed interest in citizenship deprivation as a policy measure. This article aims to contribute to the debate on its utility as a counterterrorism measure by examining recent developments in citizenship deprivation legislation and its use in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK; discussing the wide array of possible scenarios that may follow after an individual is deprived of citizenship; and analysing to what extent the various outcomes are instrumental in countering terrorism. It concludes that most of the outcomes are problematic from a human rights perspective, or counterproductive in the fight against terrorism as they may cause further marginalisation and radicalisation and can play into the hands of terrorist groups, may cause people to disappear from the radar, and may undermine crucial international cooperation.

Abstract: Examines how the rapid expansion of social media platforms and cryptoassets have created opportunism for terrorist funding, and assesses the effectiveness of defence against terrorism financing suspicious activity reports (DATF SARs) in combating such strategies. Discusses how the social networking funding model can exploit loopholes in DATF SARs, and considers possible alternative responses, such as a voluntary exchange of information model.

Abstract: While Interpol has literally dominated in the field of international police cooperation, in the beginning of the 1990s Europol has emerged to complement and reinforce the then existing law enforcement cooperation at European level. Since then, Europol has remarkably evolved both strategically and operationally, though within a complex and diverse European legal, political and law enforcement framework. This study provides an in depth analysis of Europol’s evolution through major political adversities and law enforcement constraints inextricably connected, while it also examines the impact of the principle of national sovereignty that has deeply affected Europol’s establishment and its operational evolution to date. It concludes with quoting concrete remarks and concerns on Europol’s current situation and its potential in combating international organized crime and terrorism.

Abstract: Taking as reference a cost-benefit analysis of cyberterrorism published in 2004 by Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, this article briefly reviews what happened in the last 15 years in cyberterrorism research, what was correctly forecast, what was wrong and what may happen in the future. Some of the analyses published in during this period have been accurate, indicating that terrorists would use the Web and then social media for supporting operations in financing, recruiting and, especially “propaganda” (information operations), instead of wasting resources in ineffectual cyberattacks against critical infrastructures. The same analyses, however, did not appreciate enough how successful information operations by terrorist groups would have been. Overall, the approach, research methods, findings and forecasting have been quite valid and fruitful and thus they can represent a solid foundation on which scholars of (cyber)terrorism may base their future research.

Abstract: This article analyses the European Union's (EU) construction of the threat of cyberterrorism. Through the application of interpretive discourse analysis, the article identifies several key strands that underpin the construction of the cyberterrorist threat within the political and security institutions of the EU. Locating the analysis within the literature pertaining both to the EU as a security actor and to cyber-security, the article identifies the emergence of the perceived threat of cyberterrorism within the EU discourse on emerging security threats. The article scrutinizes the meaning(s) ascribed to this threat, arguing that although cyberterrorism has not been conclusively defined by the EU, the threat has been invoked as a means of legitimizing existing and future security practices. In particular, the threat of cyberterrorism has been ascribed significance with respect to the need to implement harmonized, high standards for the securing of critical infrastructure across the EU and its member states.

Abstract: Le Parlement européen et le Conseil ont adopté le 29 avril 2021 un règlement visant à lutter contre la « propagande » terroriste en ligne. La présente contribution a pour objectif de délimiter le champ d’application de ce règlement ainsi que son objet.

Abstract: Through case study analyses a small body of research has focused on the role the internet plays in radicalizing potential lone wolf terrorists. However, scholars have yet to examine how internet connectivity influences terrorism cross-nationally. Thus, this project attempts to address that limitation. This paper examines the effect internet connectivity has on domestic terrorism in 80 democracies from 1992-2012. Using standard controls and multiple connectivity indicators, we find that greater connectivity is associated with increased domestic terrorism. However, the effects of internet connectivity on domestic terrorism are conditioned by levels of state wealth and domestic turmoil within democracies.

Abstract: Extremist exploitation of social media platforms is an important regulatory question for civil society, government, and the private sector. Extremists exploit social media for a range of reasons-from spreading hateful narratives and propaganda to financing, recruitment, and sharing operational information. Policy responses to this question fit under two headings, strategic communication and content moderation. At the center of both of these policy responses is a calculation about how best to limit audience exposure to extremist narratives and maintain the marginality of extremist views, while being conscious of rights to free expression and the appropriateness of restrictions on speech. This special issue on "Countering Extremists on Social Media: Challenges for Strategic Communication and Content Moderation" focuses on one form of strategic communication, countering violent extremism. In this editorial we discuss the background and effectiveness of this approach, and introduce five articles which develop multiple strands of research into responses and solutions to extremist exploitation of social media. We conclude by suggesting an agenda for future research on how multistakeholder initiatives to challenge extremist exploitation of social media are conceived, designed, and implemented, and the challenges these initiatives need to surmount.

Abstract: We investigate the relationship between transnational terrorism and the restrictiveness of immigration policies. We argue that transnational terrorism may create incentives for governments to implement more restrictive migration policies. First, more restrictive policies may make terrorism a more costly endeavor, discouraging future terrorist activity. Second, voters may hold the government accountable for the increased insecurity and economic instability terrorism produces; more restrictive migration policies may signal political resolve and meet public demand for security-providing policies, consequently reducing the government’s chances of electoral defeat. We provide an empirical analysis of the effect of transnational terrorism on migration policy restrictiveness for a sample of 30 OECD countries between 1980 and 2010. We find that a greater exposure to transnational terrorism is associated with stricter migration controls, but not stricter migration regulations regarding eligibility criteria and conditions. This finding is robust to different model specifications, estimation methods, operationalizations of terrorism, and instrumental-variable approaches. It points to the securitization of immigration, providing partial support for the notion that transnational terrorism incentivizes migration policy change towards greater restrictiveness. However, the policy response appears to be surgical (affecting only migration controls) rather than sweeping (and thus not influencing broader migration regulations) for the countries in our sample.

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