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Militarization of European Border Security

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The Emergence of EU Defense Research Policy

Part of the book series: Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management ((ITKM))

Abstract

The recent EU policy of boosting and militarizing border security, which builds upon prolonged lobbying by the European military and security industry, is reflected in EU funding for border security research and development (R&D) projects. Border security and border control are focal points in the EU’s main research programs, notably the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes and Horizon 2020. Large military and security companies, as well as research agencies, are the main profiteers of the millions the EU spends on this research. Apart from these direct profits for the industry, border security R&D research helps drive an agenda that continually seeks to expand border security, as part of the drive of the military-industrial complex to enlarge its scope and penetrate into security markets. This includes the use of an increasingly militarized security angle as a stepping stone to the financing of full-blown military research.

Throughout this chapter use has been made of Akkerman (2016a and 2016b).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For an overview of these projects, see Akkerman (2016a: Annex 4) and Akkerman (2016b: Annex 1).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stop Wapenhandel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Mark Akkerman

Authors
  1. Mark Akkerman
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Correspondence to Mark Akkerman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Documentation Centre / National, Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece

    Nikolaos Karampekios

  2. Independent Researcher, Athens, Greece

    Iraklis Oikonomou

  3. School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Elias G. Carayannis

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Akkerman, M. (2018). Militarization of European Border Security. In: Karampekios, N., Oikonomou, I., Carayannis, E. (eds) The Emergence of EU Defense Research Policy. Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68807-7_18

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