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Converging and conflicting ethical values in the internal/external security continuum in Europe

Periodic Report Summary - INEX (Converging and conflicting ethical values in the internal/external security continuum in Europe)

The aim of INEX is to contribute to existing understandings of European security through an innovative analysis of the value based premises and ethical consequences of the internal/external security continuum. While this continuum is studied in ongoing research, it contains essential value assumptions and ethical consequences that have remained largely under-studied, with significant consequences for both European policy and law-making in further security practices. It is the aim of this project to fill this lacuna by supplementing the current state-of-the-art research on the continuum with an ethical and value-oriented analysis.

The research is undertaken in the interest of making distinct recommendations about how heightened awareness of, and emphasis on, the ethical dimensions of security policy concerning the internal/external continuum improves the effectiveness and efficiently of security measures.

INEX seeks to document, clarify and analyse the ethical value assumptions implicit in four main themes of internal/external security practice:
1. the proliferation of security technologies for surveillance and border control;
2. the transnational legal dilemmas of European security practice;
3. the proliferation and shifting roles of security professionals;
4. the ethical implications of CFSP/EDSP implementation and its linkages to internal security challenges.
INEX further seeks to concretise and test the four themes of ethical consideration in the internal/external security continuum through a survey and analysis of a specific portion of the security continuum that links the EU and the European neighbourhood.

The main tasks of the second year of the INEX project were first to continue research opened in the year in the aim of completing and refining the state-of-the-art in the various areas the project encompasses and, second, to initiate phase two of the project which calls for the application of the analytical framework produced to the six case countries selected from the Eastern and Southern neighbourhoods of the European Union.

The year was also characterised by a number of dissemination activities. Drawing on the extensive network from the partners in the project the workshops and seminars have been attended by a high number of relevant people and speakers, hence the project have made an important step in realising its objective with greater visibility and strategic impact.

Evidence of joint preparation and close cooperation between the different work packages have emanated in important synergies of benefit for the quality and progress of the project. Albeit the different backgrounds and disciplines the different partners have engaged in debate together with policy makers, other experts and practitioners providing innovative and nuanced reflections which has given added value to the overall content of the project. The project has also realised its aim of publishing policy briefs in the INEX series at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels. These policy briefs constitute an essential part in INEX aim to inform policy makers on the changing nature of security research and security policy.