Terrorism in Europe [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

The terrorist attacks in Paris last year and in Brussels this March have reinforced calls on European Union member states to strengthen their cooperation on internal security and intensified the debate on the EU’s role in fighting terrorism.

Among measures being, or about to be, introduced are more thorough checks of people travelling abroad, better control of firearms, the collecting of more data on airline passengers, and improved operational cooperation. The European Parliament is preparing for negotiations with EU member states on a proposed Directive on Combating Terrorism and the Commission is pushing ahead with its Security Union concept.

This note offers links to recent commentaries and reports from major international think tanks on terrorism in Europe and the EU’s response to it. More studies on the topic can be found in a previous edition of ‘What think tanks are thinking’.

What’s the best way organize a coalition around countering terrorism?
Brookings Institution, June 2016

‘All radicalisation is local’: The genesis and drawbacks of an elusive concept
Egmont, June 2016

Prosecuting foreign terrorist fighters: What role for the military?
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, May 2016

Towards a ‘Security Union’: Bolstering the EU’s counter-terrorism response
European Political Strategy Centre, April 2016

Terrorist threat in the Euro-Mediterranean region
European Institute of the Mediterranean, Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission, April 2016

The EU and the 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels: Better instead of more information-sharing
Centre for European Policy Studies, April 2016

Concerted and coordinated: Terrorism in Europe
European Council on Foreign Relations, April 2016

The foreign fighters phenomenon in the EU: Profiles, threats & policies
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, April 2016

The return of the terror tourists: Foreign terrorist fighters as a challenge for Germany and Europe
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, April 2016

Europe vs. America: Comparing the terrorism threat
Brookings Institution, April 2016

After Paris and Brussels: Reassessing ISIS’s strategy in Europe
Egmont, April 2016

The European Union and the fight to counter terrorism
Fondation Robert Schuman, March 2016

Brussels’ big terrorism problem: Is this the Islamic State?
Foreign Policy Research Institute, March 2016

Understanding radicalisation: Review of literature
Center for the Study of Democracy, March 2016

Do significant terrorist attacks increase the risk of further attacks?
Rand Europe, March 2016

Using Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements to manage and supervise terrorist offenders
Rand Europe, March 2016

Facing the fourth foreign fighters wave: What drives Europeans to Syria, and to Islamic State?
Egmont, March 2016

Tangled connections between migration and security in the wake of the Arab uprisings: a European perspective
Istituto Affari Internazionali, March 2016

For EU eyes only? Intelligence and European security
European Union Institute for Security Studies, March 2016

Why we think terrorism is scarier than it really is (and we probably always will)
European Council on Foreign Relations, March 2016

Daesh and the terrorist threat: From the Middle East to Europe
Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Fondazione Italianieuropei, March 2016

Lone-actor terrorism. Policy paper 1: Personal characteristics of lone-actor terrorists
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, February 2016

Countering lone-actor terrorism Series No. 3: Lone-actor terrorism – Database workshop
Royal United Services Institute, January 2016

Why does the Islamic State endure and expand?
Istituto Affari Internazionali, December 2015

Foreign (terrorist) fighters with IS: A European perspective
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, December 2015

After Paris: Five questions on (counter-)terrorism in Europe
Egmont, December 2015

Visit the European Parliament page on ‘The EU’s fight against terrorism‘.