Police and justice co-operation and the new European borders

Book abstract:

Despite the obviously integrative drive behind the concept of the European Union (EU), the problem of the European borders and their just policing and treatment remains crucial.

At a moment when the EU is looking to increasingly expand itself, particularly eastwards, and certainly since the US terrorist attacks on September 11th, in a culture of anxiety wrought by terrorism, human trafficking, immigration and organised crime across these borders, the compilers of this book ask for more 'trust' between everyone concerned in building a better, safer and more secure Europe. Currently there are, for example, as editors Malcolm Anderson and Joanna Apap point out, considerable problems over existing EU policies on these important issues and those being implemented within each separate Member State, the most obvious again being tensions over the immigration issue. Another problem is that enlargement will result in the eastward re-alignment of the Schengen border, which will alienate non-candidate countries and potentially create an atmosphere of exclusion, isolation and hostility.

Over fourteen chapters from various scholars and experts, the many issues and topics the book covers include the following: security co-operation and the promotion of trust, discussions of the tensions between sovereignty and supranationality, the question of discrimination, the role of justice and the Baltic states, minority rights, the call for greater flexibility between borders and states, crime, terrorism, human trafficking and police corruption.

The book is aimed at policy-makers, academics, and anyone interested in the field of law enforcement and policy.