Technology Research and Development and the Making of the EU’s Borders

Technology Research and Development and the Making of the EU’s Borders poses the question of how the Research and Development (R&D) of border security technologies constitutes a political practice of border security. It discusses how ideas of technology, borders and mobility control shape R&D at different stages, such as in formulating research calls or during research projects. In consequence, it is argued that through the prominent role of ideas and imaginations of security and control, R&D as a process reproduces these imaginaries and contributes to the maintenance of specific political orders.

The book introduces the case of the EU’s Security Research Programme (SRP), which is funded within the large-scale Research Framework Programmes. Through the SRP, the EU funds projects specifically focusing on the EU’s border security system. Hence, it contributes to the functioning and maintenance of the EU’s border management infrastructures, such as information and surveillance systems. The involvement of different actors – security practitioners, policy administrators and researchers – at different levels make the SRP a compelling case for understanding the political nature of border security R&D. This book therefore focuses on three levels – political relations and power structures of R&D, pertinent ideas and imaginations of security, and work within projects – in order to achieve a comprehensive analysis of border security R&D.

Technology Research and Development and the Making of the EU’s Borders will be of great interest to scholars and students of Politics, European Studies, Organizational Sociology, and Technology Studies.