The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, produced a revolution in
domestic security in the United States. The Bush administration
responded quickly by aggressively enforcing existing laws, sponsoring
new legislation, overhauling domestic intelligence, and employing the
president's executive power in ways that drew criticism from civil
libertarians on both the left and right. Many hoped that the
succeeding administration would adopt a more 'European' approach to
domestic security-an approach typically understood to be more
compatible with the rule of law and friendlier to civil liberties. But
Europe has suffered major terrorist attacks as well-in Madrid in 2004
and London in 2005-and terrorist plots continue to plague America's
European allies. Has this shared experience engendered a common
approach to domestic security, or, as many believe, is there a
transatlantic divide in counterterrorism strategy? In Safety, Liberty,
and Islamist Terrorism: American and European Approaches to Domestic
Counterterrorism, Gary J. Schmitt leads a group of security and
intelligence experts in analyzing the domestic counterterrorism
regimes of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, and the United
States. The author's in-depth analysis provides a unique window into
the similarities and differences among the counterterrorism efforts of
these major democracies and explores the possibilities (and
limitations) of applying one country's lessons to another. Safety,
Liberty, and Islamist Terrorism concludes with a broad assessment of
the changes made to U.S. counterterrorism strategy since 9/11 in
comparison with current European laws, institutions, and practices,
and with policies instituted during past American domestic security
crises. The analysis uncovers evidence of a shared strategic
imperative: preemption. For the United States, preemption occurs both
at home and on battlefields abroad, while for Europe, preemption is
primarily a domestic affair, often resulting in laws that allow more
aggressive policing of terrorist activity than occurs in the United
States. The comparison also yields insights about how the
transatlantic community has balanced the need to address the jihadist
threat with maintaining civic order at home. Although no country has a
perfect record, Schmitt contends that changes made to domestic
security policy in response to the terrorist threat have not
undermined the United States and Europe's shared commitment to
democracy and liberty. 'Certainly, tradeoffs have been made between
individual liberties and domestic security,' Schmitt writes. 'But if
we take the broad view, we are struck by how minimal those intrusions
on our liberties have been, given the threat we face.'
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780844743509
Publisert
2012
Utgiver
Vendor
AEI Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter