This dissertation is concerned with an analysis of the dynamic of
West European terrorism and European Community/Union (EC/EU)
counter-terrorism as it has evolved since the late 1960s. The first half
of the study is devoted to an investigation of the nature of the
terrorist phenomenon itself; the factors that were primarily responsible
for its escalation from the late 1960s onwards; the new and continuing
trends that are likely to affect the future course of terrorism within
Western Europe into the 1990s. The main focus of the second half of the
project centers on an examination of the effectiveness and
appropriateness of the latest EU provision to counter terrorism (and
other major threats to internal security) - the Maastricht third "pillar."
This assessment is made from a perspective that takes into account
questions of both operational anti-terrorist proficiency and liberal
democratic acceptability.
Police and security forces throughout the EU have strongly
endorsed the third pillar as providing an efficient response to serious
criminality. However, from a liberal democratic point of view, the
Maastricht provisions raise critical questions concerning the underlying
ideological rationale that appears to be guiding the Twelve's evolving
internal security cooperation, the lack of public debate surrounding this
coordination and the absence of any effective means to control closer EU
judicial and law enforcement action. All this poses a serious problem for the future of EU counterterrorism
cooperation. Close coordination between the EU member states
is absolutely necessary if the continuing threat of terrorism in Western
Europe is to be effectively quashed in the 1990s. However, one cannot
realistically expect this to happen if fundamental fears exist over the
desirability and legitimacy of establishing ever closer internal security
cooperation. It is therefore vital that in the headlong rush to provide
for an enhanced international operational capacity to deal with terrorism
critical considerations of democratic control and acceptability (both of
which the EU as well as individual member states are sworn to uphold
by virtue of their "status" as a liberal democratic entities) are not lost
by the Union Twelve.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8751 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Chalk, Peter |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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