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Transnational challenges

There is a growing overlap between the EU’s internal and external security problems. Terrorism, organised crime and unregulated migration not only pose a threat to European internal security, but also have a serious impact on the stability of Europe’s immediate neighbourhood. Very often, they find their roots in conflicts and instability further abroad in Africa or Asia.

For some time, the European Union has been active in international debates on the governance of these challenges, and has created new policy instruments of its own. Already in the early 1990s, the EU successfully linked its home-affairs priorities with its Common Foreign and Security Policy. The 2015 migration crisis showed the limits of that approach, and has sparked a new wave of reforms.

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    05April 2017
    The EU migration crisis – Getting the numbers right
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    The 2015 migration crisis revealed gaps in the EU’s migration-related statistics. This Brief looks at how unreliable migration data can be manipulated, and seeks to reverse the narratives which are put forward by certain actors in order to pursue their own agendas.

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    05April 2017
    SMS – Global migration: getting the trends right
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    The second in the new EUISS series of Security Monthly Stats (SMS) looks at the sensitive issue of global migration. Are there really more migrants than ever before? And are people from the ‘global South’ migrating northwards?

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    29March 2017
    Securing the Energy Union: five pillars and five regions
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    With contributions from

    This Report examines the energy challenges facing the different regions of Europe, investigating shared priorities and common projects, as well as barriers to integration and cooperation. A series of chapters devoted to distinct regions examines what role the Energy Union can play to help address their energy challenges, including those related to energy security and relations with external suppliers.

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    08March 2017
    Preventing terrorism in the south
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    To step up the fight against terrorism, the EU is looking to forge closer ties with strategic countries in its Southern Neighbourhood. The Union’s initiatives to set up counter-terrorism dialogues in the region have, however, been met with a hesitant response. How can the EU overcome different interpretations of what effective counter-terrorism should look like?

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    08March 2017
    Trends in terrorism
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    Although it is not the first time that Europe has experienced terrorism, for many Europeans, the phenomenon appears to be the most dangerous form of political violence today. So what is old and what new about today’s terrorism?

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    02March 2017
    Counter-terrorism cooperation with the southern neighbourhood

    Since the EU adopted its Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2005, it has focused on forging closer ties with third countries in the fight against terrorism. This study outlines and contextualises current counter-terrorism activities in the region.

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    22February 2017
    Women in peacebuilding: the EU & others
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    Since the 1990s, the EU's gender mainstreaming strategy has spread to its foreign policy, including its CSDP. What concrete steps has it taken to promote women in the field of peace and security?

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    08February 2017
    The refugee-development nexus
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    In a marked shift from previous policies, many advanced economies are creating labour market integration initiatives for refugees. This Brief argues that although this might seem a shortcut to a more progressive strategy, it risks undermining the integrity of refugee policy and repeating the mistakes of the 1990s.

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    10November 2016
    Managing migration abroad – Why, where, what and how?
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    Because of the intertwining of internal and external security matters, the EU’s model of dealing with crisis is being challenged. This Brief looks at how integrating different approaches and distinct practises across the EU may come to represent the key change for policymakers.

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    10November 2016
    Civilian CSDP: what next?
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    Civilian CSDP missions were downsized in 2016, paradoxically at a time when security needs are growing – with threats largely of a non-military nature. This Brief shows how these changes call for renewed investment in civilian CSDP so that it can find its place in the evolving global crisis management architecture.

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    24April 2015
    The EU and the NPT: drawing lines
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    45 years after its inception, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) faces old and new challenges. This Brief surveys recent developments ahead of the 2015 Review Conference of the Treaty. As a microcosm of the regime, the European Union is uniquely positioned to bridge the NPT’s main divides.

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    15April 2015
    A new climate for peace
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    This independent report commissioned by members of the G7, identifies seven compound climate-fragility risks that pose serious threats to the stability of states and societies in the decades ahead. Based on an assessment of existing policies on climate change adaptation, development cooperation and humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding, the report recommends that the G7 take concrete action to tackle climate-fragility risks and increase the resilience of states and societies to them.

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    13March 2015
    Asia: disasters as opportunities?
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    What progress has been made in Asia with regard to Search and Rescue (SAR) and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations since the aviation disasters of last year? Can anything positive emerge from the tragedies?

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    13March 2015
    Arctic matters: in from the cold?
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    With the next summit of the Arctic Council expected to deal with the EU’s pending application to become a recognised observer in the organisation, this Alert takes a look at the cooperation efforts – and tensions – in the far north.

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    30January 2015
    Cyber jihadists and their web
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    This Brief explains how the internet has increasingly become a tool for extremists to recruit new members, raise funds, and conduct new types of attacks. What can be done to stop the rise of cyber jihadism?

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    30January 2015
    State-sponsored hackers: hybrid armies?
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    With the virtual and physical worlds becoming ever more blurred, and the links between such hacker collectives and governments still unclear, is it still possible to set rules for governing cyberspace?

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    16January 2015
    Can ISIL be copied?
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    The first EUISS Brief of 2015 explores the possibility of other jihadi groups evolving along the lines of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). What explains the organisation’s spectacular rise? And what elements are required for other groups to replicate ISIL’s achievements?

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    19December 2014
    Riding the digital wave – The impact of cyber capacity building on human development
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    This report on cybersecurity seeks to promote a development-focused approach to the issue. The authors address security not as an end in itself but rather as a means towards social, economic and political development, and argue that cyber capacity building is a developmental issue which requires cooperation among different policy communities.

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    19December 2014
    A changing global environment
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    With contributions from

    A collaborative project by the entire EUISS research team, this Chaillot Paper analyses changes in the contemporary global environment according to eight distinct but interconnected perspectives. The publication aims to offer a comprehensive background analysis to the policy debates that will inform the drafting of the Report on the international geopolitical environment that the High Representative is due to present in 2015.

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    27November 2014
    Gender in conflict
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    This Brief explores the various dimensions of women in conflict. Beyond the prevailing narratives that tend to portray women primarily as victims – and men as perpetrators – they can also actively engage in civilian life, partake in combat, and help pave the road to peace.

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