This project proposed a Comparative Study of EU, British and US Policy Transfer to Greece on Terrorism and Organised Crime. In international politics today, few policy areas are as pressing as the transfer of approaches to both terrorism and organised crime from states that have more to those who have less developed policies in these areas. Although the demand for policy transfer (best practices and normative shifts) amongst officials and law enforcement professionals has grown all the louder globally since September 11th 2001, little substantive research has been carried out to account for the extent to which security policy transfer is, or has been, effective.

In recent decades, economic, institutional and cultural obstacles have often been flagged by expert observers and practitioners as problems commonly encountered during efforts to secure such transfers (whether to officials or practitioners, and regardless of their level of seniority). Hard pressure and the use of incentives have been posited as producing different outcomes in terms of recipient acceptance of policy transfer. As yet, however, such relationships have not been studied methodically by comparing different approaches. By focusing on the case of Greece within its EU context and alongside its important bilateral relationships with the UK and the US, this study offered a unique insight into what has worked and what has not in affecting such transfers, with lessons for international security policy transfer to more volatile regions of the globe such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Indeed, it  offered an unprecedented long-term assessment of the effectiveness of EU, British and US policies with regard to Greece’s approach to the subjects.

The study  included interviews with British, Greek and US officials, policemen (former and current trainers and trainees), academics and journalists. Documentary evidence were also  used to assess the correlation between, on the one hand, attitudinal change, and on the other, resource capacity-building, international professional collaboration, and different tactical approaches.

Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow Dr. Sappho Xenakis was the project coordinator and principal investigator, whilst Dr. Thanos Dokos was the project supervisor. For further information please contact Dr. Xenakis.

Acronym: SEC POL TRANSFER

Duration of the programme: 1/9/2009-31/8/2011  Funded by the European Commission, 7th Framework Programme, Marie Curie Intra European Fellowships