The European Union – A Counterterrorism Agenda How the EU represents the problem and its solutions

Författare

Gustav Faxius

Summary, in English

This study analyzes the European Union’s (henceforth EU) terrorism agenda. The overarching aim of the research is to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of how the EU represents the problem of terrorism and what solutions they present to counter it. Hence, Lasse Lindekilde’s (2012) model, which he used to study the Danish government’s counter- radicalization Action Plan, is adopted, and used as the analytical framework. Five policy documents which formulates the EU’s terrorism agenda constitutes the material for the analysis. Data derived from the material, meaning the analysis of the content, were made by color-coding during to separate occasions with time interval in order to enhance the study’s reliability. The study identified that the goal of the EU’s terrorism agenda is to protect and safeguard the common values of the Union, thus the desired identities which the Union promotes – are those who coincide with these values. The EU does not explicitly define what is considered to be non-desirable, other than radical and extremist behavior, thus it can only be defined in connection to what is considered not to be radical and extremist. This establishes a subject position of either ‘for or against’, meaning either you are for the EU or you are against it.

Avdelning/ar