Leiden University Student Repository

Souza Costa Reis, Tatiana (2017)

The possibility of fighting terrorism through the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP)

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

Over the last years, some member states of the European Union have been the target of terrorist attacks. The attacks in France and Belgium in 2015 and 2016 show that the fight against terrorism and specifically against the Islamic State (ISIS) is far from an end. The thesis aims to discuss if the difficulties faced by Belgium to deal with the issue could influence the adoption of an effective common anti-terrorist policy by member states and if this could be done through the development of CSDP. Could terrorist attacks and the insufficient capacity of Belgium in providing adequate counter-terrorism and intelligence services be considered situations significant enough which could lead to an agreement between member states about the development of an effective Common Security and Defense Policy which would benefit the whole EU? Social constructivism is used as the theoretical basis of this analysis.

European Union

Belgium

social constructivism

terrorism

security

CSDP

Author

Souza Costa Reis, Tatiana

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

European Union Studies

Supervisors

Schaper, Herman

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en