The European Union as Crisis Manager Patterns and Prospects

The European Union is increasingly being asked to manage crises inside and outside the Union. From terrorist attacks to financial crises, and natural disasters to international conflicts, many crises today generate pressures to collaborate across geographical and functional boundaries. What capacities does the EU have to manage such crises? Why and how have these capacities evolved? How do they work and are they effective? This book offers an holistic perspective on EU crisis management. It defines the crisis concept broadly and examines EU capacities across policy sectors, institutions and agencies. The authors describe the full range of EU crisis management capacities that can be used for internal and external crises. Using an institutionalization perspective, they explain how these different capacities evolved and have become institutionalized. This highly accessible volume illuminates a rarely examined and increasingly important area of European cooperation.

1. The EU as crisis manager: a new role for the Union; 2. Assisting overwhelmed states: the evolving use of the Civil Protection Mechanism; 3. The EU as global crisis manager: how emerging tools shaped ambitious policy aims; 4. Managing transboundary crises: the gradual emergence of EU capacity; 5. Managing future crises: challenges and prospects for the European Union.

Arjen Boin is Professor of Governance and Crisis Management in the School of Governance at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and an Adjunct Professor in the Public Administration Institute of Louisiana State University. He is also managing partner at Crisisplan.
Magnus Ekengren is an Associate Professor at the Swedish National Defence College, and Director of the College's Programme for European Security Research (EUROSEC).
Mark Rhinard is Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs and Associate Professor at Stockholm University.