Rüland, Anna-Lena; Rüffin, Nicolas; Wang, Ruowei; Mauduit, Jean-Christophe; (2025) The implementation of research security policies in Germany: exploring policy narratives across governance levels. European Security 10.1080/09662839.2025.2591708. (In press).

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Abstract

For decades, European Union (EU) Member States have promoted openness and collaboration in science. However, amidst a changing geopolitical world order, they increasingly view international research collaborations as a possible gateway for foreign interference. As a result, several Member States have tightened international research collaborations through “research security” measures like visa restrictions for foreign researchers. So far, the implementation of these measures remains under-researched. We address this blind spot by using the narrative policy framework as a theoretical lens to investigate how the implementation of research security policies is narrated across the micro- (individual), meso- (organisational) and macro- (governmental) levels in Germany. Based on a mixed-methods analysis, we show that there are currently few linkages between policy narratives across governance levels. This narrative inconsistency creates uncertainties for micro-level actors that are tasked with policy implementation, thus endangering policy effectiveness. Conceptually, our study introduces critical nuances that help refine our understanding of how policy narratives evolve. Specifically, it demonstrates that rather than being implemented in a linear way from design to execution, research security narratives are created in a space of narrative autonomy in terms of sentiments, terminology and suggestions for implementation.

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