ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers theoretical and empirical insights on the sociopolitical and legal governance of transnational threats emerging from the ‘high intensity of exchanges, the new modes of transacting, and the multiplication of activities [requiring] cross-border travel and contacts on a sustained basis’ that shape once again and more increasingly than ever the EU space. It notes a transition from the idea that enhanced transnational state relations positively affect international cooperation and security to a process, marking the past decade, of hardening of internal and external EU borders as a result of cross-border terrorism, irregular migration and, more recently, spread of highly contagious viruses. The book then analyses the process of democratic consolidation in Armenia and Georgia and accounts for the process ending up in favour of accession into the Customs Union/Eurasian Economic Union of both countries.
