1st Edition

Democracy, Law and Security Internal Security Services in Contemporary Europe

By Peter Gill, Jean-Paul Brodeur Copyright 2003
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    In the past decade there have been significant changes in the operations of security and intelligence agencies throughout Europe. Those in the former Eastern Europe have undergone the most obvious changes in their targets and the legal context within which they operate, but these changes have affected all the agencies to some extent. It is these changes that will provide the context of structures and processes through which the agencies will respond to the September 11, 2001 attack on New York and Washington. This edited collection of papers by an international group of experts in the study of security and intelligence examines recent and current developments in the light of the rule of law and democracy and specifically addresses a number of common themes. Firstly, security and intelligence agencies are placed within the broader context of their parent state, including whether their powers originate in legislation or executive decree and the form of oversight. Secondly, the types of agency - civilian, military, foreign and domestic - are considered in the context of their historical development, including the transition from authoritarian to liberal state forms. Thirdly, the changes in their mandate and targets are discussed, in particular, towards 'terrorism', 'transnational organized crime' and economic intelligence. Finally, each author considers the enduring issue of how the impact of security and intelligence agencies is to be assessed in terms both of security and human rights. This book represents the first systematic attempt to present a collection of contemporary studies on the shifts in this crucial aspect of the operation of all states, and to do so within a framework of common themes. Although significant differences remain in the operation of security intelligence, all the authors highlight the common dilemmas that accompany the attempt to provide security but to do so democratically.

    Contents: Introduction, Jean-Paul Brodeur, Peter Gill and Dennis Töllborg. The Beloved Lands of Undercover: Democracy and secrecy: the French intelligence community, Jean-Paul Brodeur and Nicolas Dupeyron; Intelligence services in Belgium: a story of legitimation and legalization, Lode van Outrive. From Dictatorship to Democracy: The Spanish intelligence services, Andrea Giménez-Salinas; National security in Hungary, Istvan Szikinger; Security services in Poland and their oversight, Andrzej Rzeplinski. Security Intelligence in Stable Democracies: Security and intelligence structures in The Netherlands, Peter Klerks; Internal security in Sweden, Iain Cameron and Dennis Töllborg; The globalization of security and intelligence agencies: a report on the Canadian intelligence community, Jean-Paul Brodeur. Security Intelligence in Old and New ’Superpowers’: Security intelligence services in the United Kingdom, Peter Gill; Parliament, media and the control of intelligence services in Germany, Shlomo Shpiro. Conclusion: National security and political policing: some thoughts on values, ends and law, Laurence Lustgarten; Bibliography; Index.

    Biography

    Jean-Paul Brodeur is Full Professor at the School of Criminology and a Researcher at the International Centre for Comparative Criminology, both at the University of Montréal, Canada. He was also President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Intelligence Security (CASIS) Peter Gill is a Reader in Politics and Security at the School of Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. He is currently Chair of the Security Intelligence Studies Group ( a working group of the UK Political Studies Association and the British International Studies Association). Dennis Töllborg is Professor of Legal Science at Gothenburg School of Law and Economics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

    ’A timely, richly informative and probing analysis of the structure and functioning of national security policing in ten democratic countries. Together with a prior volume National Security and the Rule of Law, edited by Dennis Toellborg, this book is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the empirical and normative issues in the comparative study of political policing.’ Gary T. Marx, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of Undercover: Police Surveillance in America ’...a very welcomed, significant and necessary addition to the literature on intelligence.’ International Criminal Justice Review