A Kaleidoscopic View on the External Dimension of Justice and Home Affairs

This article shows that the dynamics of expansion and diversification of the external dimension of Justice and Home Affairs (ED-JHA) identified in the editorial of this special issue can be altered by three processes: further institutionalization, politicization and operationalization. Those three dimensions participate in the creation of different patterns for the ED-JHA that can be summarized under the metaphor of a kaleidoscope. The dynamics of expansion and diversification can therefore take different forms, following which kaleidoscopic view prevails and leading to different ways of participation and influencing policy-making. Institutionalization is identifiable by routinization, structuration of decision-making, diffusion of values as well as competition for power and ressources across the actors.

Mechanisms contributing to further institutionalization are to be found by EU institutions through the European External Action Service as well as through the diffusion of the EU's internal security discourse to the Common Security and Defence Policy police missions. The roles endorsed by the European Parliament and JHA agencies are symptomatic of a politicization trend, which widens the circle of actors in this area.

Finally, the ED-JHA is taking an operational dimension, law enforcement actors looking for ways to pursue cooperation in a pragmatic way, while avoiding some constraints imposed by institutionalization and politicization. The dynamics of expansion and diversification after Lisbon and Stockholm can be altered in the coming years by further institutionalization, politicization or operationalization.