Call for Papers - Security, Technology, Borders: EU Responses to New Challenges

The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) will organize in conjunction with CHALLENGE - The Changing Landscape of European Liberty and Security - its Second Training School on *Security, Technology, Borders: EU Responses to New Challenges*, on 6-7 October 2006. The rationale, the call for papers and the structure of the conference are enclosed. The deadline for receiving abstracts is 1st July 2006. STRUCTURE AND THEMES

Each training seminar is organized thus: Five panels each composed of three papers maximum and a discussant who is an expert on the issues examined by young researchers.

The training seminars will address the following subjects:

1. Perspectives on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP);

2. Borders, biometrics and security;

3. Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU;

4. The politics of recognition and integration of migrants in the EU.

5. Migration, asylum and free movement: Social and economic issues;

6. The nexus between internal and external security: the EU anti-terrorism activities.

An expert panel is organized around problems investigated by young researchers in the training seminar.

THE CHANGING NATURE OF EU BORDER CONTROL

The control of borders is one of the central policies of the EU. Thus, in recent years, a growing number of instruments have been introduced, new institutions crafted and policies hardened. However, new practices raise unprecedented questions: How effective can borders be managed today? Who controls EU borders? How does border management affect EU policies in the fields of VISA, movement of goods, persons, services and capital?

This two-day Training Seminar seeks to examine various aspects of the management of EU borders at a time of increasing perceived threats. It includes an examination of new instruments (SIS II, VIS), their implications on visa policy, migration, asylum and cooperation over international security issues. Specific innovations such the use of biometric identifiers should also be assessed. Further, by encouraging case studies, we aim to investigate not only the macro (state-to-state relations), but also micro interactions at borders. The cultural, political and economic dimensions of these practices should be scrutinized. Finally, the seminar will embed substantive issues in strong theoretical and conceptual analyses.

CEPS invites submission of proposals for papers on any of the following topics:

• Theory.An analysis of the theoretical premises of the concept of borders. This may involve discourse analysis (securitization), perception and image theory, conceptual history, historical sociology of the nexus between borders and security and/or borders and sovereignty, normative theory and the political act of drawing lines; social theory and identity as they relate to borders.

• The institutional aspects of the integrated borders management (IBM). A discussion and evaluation of the main institutions that partake in building a field of border management. This may involve an assessment of the responsibilities and limits of the EU borders management Agency and its interactions with other institutions; an analysis of Member States’ attitudes towards the Agency; the role and activities of EUROPOL, EUROGENFOR, the European Border Guard; a debate on the state-of-the art research on the political (variable geometry) and legal instruments of the management of borders. In this context, a focus on the impact of new initiatives such as Prüm is encouraged.

• Technology. An examination of surveillance and security technology. An investigation of the «smart borders» approach; a focus on databases and borders control; an assessment of the implications of Directive 2004/82 on transmission of passenger data; a comparison between EU and US practices.

• Agreements with third countries on asylum and migration issues (regular and irregular). An assessment of the evolving importance of migration and asylum issues in the management of external borders (e.g. delocalization of borders).

• Cross-border cooperation. Here, proposals may address, inter alia, the problem of cross-borders minorities and the integration of the Schengen acquis, frequent travelers programmes, police cooperation.

• Visa policy. An examination of differentiate regimes of visa policy and their overall status in the EU structure of border management. This could be done through a comparison between EU policies towards Eastern Europe on the one hand, and Southern Mediterranean on the other hand.

Download full informations and draft programm at PDF format

Call for Papers - Security, Technology, Borders : EU Responses to New Challenges