Book Review: Europe: Immigration and Conflict in Europe
| Published date | 01 May 2013 |
| Date | 01 May 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1478-9302.12016_107 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
On the other side, national actors, business groups
and employer associations prefer suasive instruments
and soft law because they ensure flexibility and com-
petitiveness. Similar cleavages exist in European envi-
ronmental and social policy. Yet the application of
policy instruments in these fields is ultimately decided
by their unique ‘situational structures’ – institutions, the
politicisation of policy problems and external events (p.
179). Bähr illustrates this differentiation in his empirical
chapters and shows that advocates of every instrument
lobby European policy makers.
The detailed and thorough attention that Bähr pays to
each of his case studies strengthens the causal claim he
identifies. Each chapter is logically structured and pro-
vides ample evidence to support the underlying claim.
However, sections occasionally lose focus by going into
excessive detail.Throughout his two empirical chapters
Bähr illustrates how the situational structures of both
environmental and social policy contain contentious and
favourable institutional environments,highly and mildly
politicised issues, and influential and irrelevant external
events. However, this nuanced appreciation is not
carried into the comparison and concluding chapter s
where Bähr makes inferences that are unsupported by
his earlier discussion. Nonetheless,the author maintains
the theoretical focus he underlines in his introduction
and demonstrates aptly that studies of policy instruments
are applicable in a supranational context.
Graeme Crouch
(University of Victoria, Canada)
EU Counterterrorism Policy: A Paper Tiger? by
Oldrich Bures. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011. 277pp.,
£60.00, ISBN 9781409411239
Oldrich Bures’ book offers a welcome analysis of the
European Union’s counter-terrorism strategies. The
volume critiques EU counter-terrorism measures, offer-
ing an interesting account of the value-added offered
by EU-level agencies and policies. Bures argues that
EU counter-terrorism policy has the scope to become
a real tiger but two fundamental weaknesses stand in its
way: lack of implementation of measures by member
states and lack of collaboration between EU agencies
and national agencies.
Part I provides an overview of contemporary terrorist
threats in Europe, highlighting the differences between
public perceptions of the terrorist threat across member
states. Bures identifies this as one of the major obstacles
when considering whether an EU policy will be suc-
cessfully implemented and argues that EU measures
should be representative of all member states.Part I also
provides a concise overview of the evolution of counter-
terrorism policy and makes a case to show that EU
counter-terrorism policy has not been widely applied by
member states. Part II analyses the roles of Europol,
Eurojust and the EU Counter-terrorism Coordinator to
provide case studies for establishing how effective EU
policies are in influencing change in member states.
Overall, Part II shows that the effectiveness of existing
counter-terrorism institutions is limited by the role and
power granted to the EU by member states.
Part III looks more specifically at the European
arrest warrant and the EU’s fight against terrorism
finances, exposing the shortcomings of the EU’s efforts
as well as suggesting ways for such policies to improve.
Part IV begins by looking into the familiar debate
surrounding counter-terrorism legislation of freedom
versus security, which encapsulates concer ns already
discussed in the academic literature and brings them
into the EU context. Bures determines that while to
date EU counter-terrorism policies tend to work more
in terms of persuasion than as an enforcer on member
states, there is a clear need for EU-level orientated
action as global terrorism cannot be fought nationally.
In response to the title of his book, Bures answers that
while it is clear that EU counter-terrorism policy is
predominantly a paper tiger, he does not support the
view that ‘EU-level action cannot offer any value-
added in the fight against terrorism’ (p. 258).
EU Counterterrorism Policy: A Paper Tiger? is an
informative volume which can be recommendedfor both
students and scholars alike. It will be of importance to
those interested in Europe’s role in the fight against ter-
rorism, and those who question the EU’s rolein secur ing
EU member states against contemporary security threats.
Lella Nouri
(Swansea University)
Immigration and Conflict in Europe by Rafaela
M. Dancygier. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2010.345pp., £17.99, ISBN 978 0 521 15023 1
Immigration and Conflict in Europe is an interesting book
for everyone interested in migration issues.To begin it
provides the reader with a general overview of existing
BOOK REVIEWS 293
© 2013 TheAuthors. Political Studies Review © 2013 Political Studies Association
Political Studies Review: 2013, 11(2)
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