Final Codebook

TransCrisis seeks to develop a comprehensive understanding of transboundary crisis management and leadership in the EU. It is particularly interested in the effect of the financial crisis on transboundary crisis management, and how the context of the 'new normal’ (involving the ongoing economic crisis, political legitimacy crisis, geopolitical tensions, refugee crisis) is impacting on the EU's transboundary crisis management capacity and leadership. WP2 and WP7 provide for the unifying core of the research work conducted in the other WPs. WP2 sets out the framework and codebook to guide other WPs in providing information for the work conducted under WP7. This document (the codebook) should be read as an extension of the theoretical framework (D2.1), which explains the core analytical concepts. WP2 plays an integrative role in the TransCrisis project, in that it facilitates a shared understanding of key factors in the study of transboundary crisis management as well as an integrated way of performing the required research that will feed into WP7. The core analytical concepts defined in D2.1 will be consistently used throughout the Consortium and this enables the integration of the findings of individual subprojects, building the foundation for a sound and comprehensive analysis of EU transboundary crisis 3 management capacity in the contemporary context. The aim of this codebook therefore is threefold: a) it provides for a unifying set of questions and concerns to deliver research outcomes across all TransCrisis WPs that go beyond the findings of each WP, b) to deliver a theoretically-informed framework for research that will facilitate integrated research-related publications and c) to deliver a platform to enhance knowledge exchange and dissemination. The latter two functions are the particular objectives of WP7. This codebook therefore guides the research work of the other WPs. Given the diverse research methodologies and research areas, this codebook provides guidance on the kind of information required to allow for the collective work on WP7. Therefore, this is not a codebook in the sense in which particular codes are associated with the presence or absence of particular conditions or factors. Instead, this codebook offers guidance to the other WPs in terms of the kind of information that is required. The different WPs will therefore provide information under the different headings used in this codebook and this information will be based on the indicative questions contained in this document (i.e. the questions are not intended to be strictly responded to according to a specific coding procedure). The information provided by the WPs can be both of a quantitative and qualitative nature. Once this information is collected in view of the findings of the different WPs, TransCrisis will have a consistent and comprehensive platform for the discussion of transboundary crisis management capacity in the EU that advances both the worlds of research and practice. This codebook sets out the different dimensions and definitions to guide research across the different WPs and to ensure that conclusions can be drawn from across the different WPs for the work in WP7. In Annex 1, the different WPs account for the ways in which the codebook informs their individual WPs. Annex 2 summarises the questions set out in subsequent sections of this Codebook. It is expected that all TransCrisis research will provide for findings that will inform discussions across the different aspects (as noted in Appendix 1). 1 The eventual aim (WP7) is to offer qualitative judgements and recommendations about key tasks in crisis management and how they relate to different aspects of EU multi-level governance. These findings will therefore directly influence TransCrisis output directed at the worlds of research and practice.