Call for papers : Roundtable on Ethics and security cooperation

See also

 Round Table on Ethics and Security : Security as an exceptional realm within a democratic polity
 Challenge Round table: Lack of accountability in security policies undermines EU legitimacy

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE and CALL FOR PAPERS

January 17, 2007 Leeds University, UK

The exceptionalism of the ever-widening security agenda that permeates increasing areas of EU policy potentially compromises accountability and responsibility mechanisms taken for granted in Western democratic systems. How does exceptionalism affect the public sphere, as the space of communicative action and a space of political participation? How can balance be achieved between the requirements of ‘security’ and attendant exceptionalism with the overarching political EU goals of freedom, security and justice.

Exceptions to openness and transparency and the political claims made as to the security enhancing potential of new technologies (designed to manage borders and citizens’ mobility) are growing at a rate that outstrips the pace of political accountability and control.

Has transparency ceased to be meaningful? What accountability can citizens expect from governments and agencies entrusted with maintaining security as new tools of managing borders and security impinge on individual privacy? Does ICT function creep inevitably lead to the minimalisation of the public sphere?

How, why and with what effect do different conceptualisations, traditions and levels of government accountability collide with different mechanisms and levels of transparency across policy areas? What might be the transparency-accountability parameters in different securitised policy areas?

What are the implications for liberty and traditional parliamentary vehicles of preventing the abuse of power and maintaining respect for civil liberties? Can ethical norms and standards be identified and practised in order to safeguard individual citizens’ identities in non-territorial space or do the new technologies for security irrevocably compromise and erode them?

These are some of the issues to be addressed in this Round Table.

Papers are invited in the following areas:-

 Secur(itis)ing Democracy in the EU: Legitimacy, Transparency, accountability and the public sphere

 Ethical security

 Biometric applications

 Comparative and single state studies of transparency and security

Confirmed papers from the Leeds team to kick off discussions include:-

 1. Communicating Security: Public Space versus Silencing or Symbolic Annihilation: Man versus Official Katharine Sarikakis University of Leeds

  2. EU ethical practice in the use of biometric identifiers Annemarie Sprokkereef University of Leeds

  3. Transparency and Openness in Comparative perspective Bruno Fransen University of Leeds

 4. Framework Decisions as a procedural safeguard to combat the erosion of citizens’ rights? Mathieu van Ravenstein University of Leeds

Abstracts of no more than 100 words should be sent to : Juliet Lodge

Travel to Leeds : cheap airlines like jet2.com fly direct to Leeds/Bradford LBA. Klmuk.co.uk flies to Leeds LBA, Manchester MAN; thomsonfly.co.uk flies to Doncaster/Sheffield DSA and Humberside HUY. Overnight ferry from Zeebrugge or Rotterdam to Hull arrives Hull 8am; then take bus or taxi to train station and then train to Leeds (one hour).

See also

 Round Table on Ethics and Security : Security as an exceptional realm within a democratic polity
 Challenge Round table: Lack of accountability in security policies undermines EU legitimacy