Security guard

Cloud computing security

Variety (cybernetics)

Collective security

Computer security

Economics

Computer science

Cloud computing

Guard (computer science)

Network security policy

Business

International trade

Corporate governance

Thermodynamics

Physics

Politics

Political science

Critical security studies

International relations

Political economy

Sociology

Artificial intelligence

Public administration

Programming language

Resilience (materials science)

Finance

European union

Security studies

West European Politics

The EU has long been recognised as a complex security actor with competences across a variety of security-relevant issues. These competences add up to a form of security governance, the purpose of which is to guard against a multiplicity of threats. How threats (and, for that matter, risks) are defined can be seen as the outcome of processes of securitisation where authoritative actors articulate a logic of security – discursively constructing threats and initiating policies in response. This article argues that it is possible for securitisation to occur in a 'collective' setting such as the EU. It articulates a framework through which collective securitisation can be understood – one that is then applied in a series of cases in the remainder of the Special Issue. The ability of the EU to mobilise effort in this regard suggests a resilience overlooked in much of the recent discussion of European crisis.

The European Union: security governance and collective securitisation