Democracy, Law and Security: Internal Security Services in Contemporary Europe

Peter Gill

mar 2017 · Routledge

Informazioni su questo ebook

In the past decade there have been significant changes in the operations of security and intelligence agencies throughout Europe. Those in the former Eastern Europe have undergone the most obvious changes in their targets and the legal context within which they operate, but these changes have affected all the agencies to some extent. It is these changes that will provide the context of structures and processes through which the agencies will respond to the September 11, 2001 attack on New York and Washington. This edited collection of papers by an international group of experts in the study of security and intelligence examines recent and current developments in the light of the rule of law and democracy and specifically addresses a number of common themes. Firstly, security and intelligence agencies are placed within the broader context of their parent state, including whether their powers originate in legislation or executive decree and the form of oversight. Secondly, the types of agency - civilian, military, foreign and domestic - are considered in the context of their historical development, including the transition from authoritarian to liberal state forms. Thirdly, the changes in their mandate and targets are discussed, in particular, towards 'terrorism', 'transnational organized crime' and economic intelligence. Finally, each author considers the enduring issue of how the impact of security and intelligence agencies is to be assessed in terms both of security and human rights. This book represents the first systematic attempt to present a collection of contemporary studies on the shifts in this crucial aspect of the operation of all states, and to do so within a framework of common themes. Although significant differences remain in the operation of security intelligence, all the authors highlight the common dilemmas that accompany the attempt to provide security but to do so democratically.

Informazioni sull'autore

Jean-Paul Brodeur is Full Professor at the School of Criminology and a Researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology, both at the University of Montréal, Canada. He was also President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Intelligence Security (CASIS) Peter Gill is a Reader in Politics and Security at the School of Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. He is currently Chair of the Security Intelligence Studies Group ( a working group of the UK Political Studies Association and the British International Studies Association). Dennis Töllborg is Professor of Legal Science at Gothenburg School of Law and Economics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.