European Counterterrorism Culture: The European response to the jihadist threat and the formulation of the sector's security culture

Abstract

The main goal of this thesis is to investigate the reasons that made European response to jihadist terrorism after 2015 more successful than previous experiences with a similar threat. The research assumes that the roots of this development could be identified in the emergence of a European counterterrorism culture that the thesis introduces to describe: the specific patterns of behavior; the expression of norms and standards; and set of power relations determining EU’s approach to terrorism. The paper contributes to the academic debate by taking a cultural approach to the study of the evolution of European counterterrorism. To validate this hypothesis and to answer the research question, the thesis analyses the development of this sector in two decades: the development of European counterterrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 and the European response to the jihadist threat after 2015. While the former aims to show the formulation of the elements of European counterterrorism culture, the latter has the purpose of further displaying the continuance of the same features in the EU’s response after 2015. The thesis concludes that: (a) there is a security culture present in the sector through the identification of the specific patterns of behavior, norms, standards and power relations; (b) the security culture contributed positively to the formulation of the European response after 2015.