Securing Europe, Fighting its Enemies. The Making of a Security Culture in Europe and Beyond,  1815-1914
European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant (2014-2019)

In this ERC-funded project, Professor Beatrice de Graaf (Principal Investigator) and an international team of historians examine the formation of a European security culture as the sum of mutually shared visions on ‘enemies of the states’, ‘vital interests’, and corresponding practices between 1815 and 1914. The project compares seven different security regimes in which Europe engaged globally, stretching across the political and commercial domain, affecting urban and maritime environments, and reaching around the world to the Ottoman Empire and China. These highly dynamic regimes were dictated both by threats (anarchists, pirates, smugglers, colonial rebels) and interests (political, moral, economic, maritime, colonial). Mobilising increasing numbers of professional 'agents' from various quarters – including police, judicial authorities and armed forces – they evolved from military interventions into police and judicial regimes and ultimately contributed to the creation of a veritable European security culture. Uncovering and introducing new historical sources, the project thus pioneers a new multidisciplinary approach to the combined history of international relations and internal policy, aiming to ‘historicise security’.

Team members:

• Prof. dr. Beatrice de Graaf (Principal Investigator)
• dr. Constantin Ardeleanu (postdoctoral research fellow)
• Susanne Keesman MA (project manager)
• Wouter Klem MA (PhD candidate)
• Erik de Lange MA (PhD candidate)
• dr. Ozan Ozavci (postdoctoral research fellow)
• dr. des. Joep Schenk (postdoctoral research fellow)

Project website:

• http://www.uu.nl/securing-europe