The European securitization of international terrorism. European cooperation on counterterrorism and the Provisional IRA in Limburg, 1973-1996

Abstract

[""This thesis focuses on the question: What role played different perceptions of security and national concerns within the European counterterrorist efforts against the PIRA, 1973-1996 and sheds a light to an often overlooked terrorist threat in Western Europe. The Provisional Irish Republican Army was one of the main terrorist organizations and operated on a massive transnational scale for more than twenty years, but its European campaigns are hardly explored in historical research. The PIRA’s European campaign offers an interesting opportunity to dive deeper into European cooperation on a smaller regional scale. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the European states had created a complex network of practical and legal cooperation on counter terrorism in response to a new kind of shared threat: international terrorism. On a smaller, more regional scale, cooperation became increasingly necessary. PIRA-cells became especially active in the border area of Belgium, the Netherlands and West-Germany to target British servicemen. The Provisional IRA offers interesting insights in the securitization of terrorism. The Provisional IRA shows on a regional scale the nature and extent of counterterrorist coordination on a European scale. The various police teams worked closely together on a personal and informal base. The lack of standardized anti-terrorist legislation and national disagreements on how to prosecute terrorism frustrated the effective conviction of the PIRA-suspects. This mirrored the broader European counterterrorist effort.""]