Security Integration in Europe

The European Union has made remarkable, unprecedented advances in both external and internal security integration. "Epistemic communities" of ambassadors, military generals, scientists, and other experts who supersede national governments in the diplomacy of security decision making are taking advantage of their shared expertise, common culture, professional norms, and frequent meetings to forge new levels of collaboration. Mai'a K. Davis Cross brings together numerous personal interviews and recent government documents across five separate case studies to construct a microsociological account of how EU governance really works and what future role the EU is likely to play internationally.

"The European Foreign and Security policy is in rapid transformation. Mai'a K. Davis Cross's book on security integration in Europe offers a timely and thorough insight into the drivers of an essential aspect of this evolution."
—Poul S. Christoffersen, Danish ambassador to Belgium and former permanent representative to the EU

"This is an ambitious work which deals not only with European security and defense but also has much to say about the policy-making process of the EU in general."
—Ezra Suleiman, Princeton University

"This book is a veritable tour de force which sets EU security integration in a complex, multifaceted, and highly sophisticated frame. It is a book with much to offer both to the IR community and to the European Studies community."
—Jolyon Howorth, Yale University

Cover image: © European Union, 2011

Mai'a K. Davis Cross is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California.

Praise / Awards

• "This book, which draws on impressive first-hand research, is highly recommended to scholars, policy makers and all those interested in understanding how security integration has been unfolding in Europe."
  —Yasemin Irepoglu, EUSA Review
• "Distinguishing the role of knowledge and expertise in political decision making is a long-standing challenge for scholars of international politics, including those who focus on arenas with dense networks of policy experts, such as the EU. Security Integration in Europe takes on this question, and provides a number of interesting insights into how and when epistemic communities matter for security policymaking, as well as documenting the surprising range of internal and external security issues that have been taken on by the EU in recent decades."
  —Jim Walsh, H-Net Reviews
• "The author generates a fresh and well-timed outlook on security integration through the approach of 'knowledge-based networks' as transformers of the Union." 
  —Ramon Loik, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies
  
• "The author is to be commended for focusing on an often-overlooked aspect of EU policymaking: how groups of individuals who have specialized knowledge can impact the European integration process. ... [Security Integration in Europe] is valuable as a rare glimpse into the EU’s byzantine bureaucracy and technocratic operating culture."
  —Political Science Quarterly
• University Association for Contemporary European Studies Best Book Prize in Contemporary European Studies