The European Mediterranean Policy after the Arab Spring: Beyond Values and Interests

Abstract

The article attempts to combine findings from transition studies, Middle East Studies and European Studies in the framework of a historical institutionalist approach in order to explain political output and interaction in Euro-Mediterranean relations. Its focus is on the impact of domestic political structures and processes of transition in the Arab world as well as inside the European Union on the interaction structures in Mediterranean politics. The approach aims to explain change and persistence in the Euro-Mediterranean policy arena not by single incidents but by drawing a complex picture of the development of political and social institutions and introducing the concepts of path dependency and critical junctures. The objective of the article is to formulate a theoretical research program for Euro-Mediterranean relations that identify the institutional structures behind the phenomenological level of analyzing politics as the interactions of interests and values.

Keywords::

• Arab authoritarianism
• Arab Spring
• European Mediterranean Policy
• European Union
• historical institutionalism
• transition

Notes

¹ On the institutionalist approach, see J. G. March & J. P. Olsen (1989) Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics (New York: Free Press); W. R. Scott (1995) Institutions and Organizations (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications); P. Pierson (1996) The path to European Integration: A historical institutionalist analysis, Comparative Political Studies, 29(2), pp. 123–163; P. A. Hall & R. C. R. Taylor (1998) Political science and the three new institutionalisms, in: K. Soltan, E. M. Uslaner & V. Haufler (eds) (1998) Institutions and Social Order (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press), pp. 15–43.

² See T. Demmelhuber (2009) Egypt's moment of reform and its reform actors, Democratization, 16(1), pp. 119–136.

³ H. Albrecht & O. Schlumberger (2004) ‘Waiting for Godot,’ International Political Science Review, 25(4), pp. 371–392; and S. Heydemann & R. Leenders (2011) Authoritarian learning and authoritarian resilience: Regime responses to the ‘Arab awakening,’ Globalizations, 8(5), pp. 647–653.

⁴ See F. Cavatorta & M. Pace (2010) The post-normative turn in European Union (EU)-Middle East and North Africa (MENA) relations: An Introduction, European Foreign Affairs Review, 15, pp. 581–587.

⁵ F. Bicchi (2009) Democracy Assistance in the Mediterranean: An Overview, Mediterranean Politics, 14(1), pp. 61–78.

⁶ E. Johansson-Nogués (2007) The (non-) normative power EU and the European Neighbourhood Policy, EuropeanPolitical Economy Review, 7, p. 192.

⁷ I. Manners (2002) Normative power Europe, Journal of Common Market Studies, 40, pp. 235–258.

⁸ See a detailed analysis in I. Tömmel (2013) The New Neighborhood Policy of the EU: An Appropriate Response to the Arab Spring?, Democracy and Security, 9(1–2), pp. 19–39; and A. Teti (2012) The EU's First Response to the ‘Arab Spring.’ Mediterranean Politics, 17(3), pp. 266–284.

⁹ M. Pace & F. Cavatorta (2012) The Arab Uprisings in Theoretical Perspective: An Introduction, Mediterranean Politics, 17(2), pp. 125–138.

¹⁰ For recent reflections of different angles on security, see F. Attinà (2013) Mediterranean Security Revisited, Democracy and Security, 9(1–2), pp. 120–136; and S. Khalifa Isaac (2013) Rethinking the new ENP: A Vision for an Enhanced European role in the Arab Revolutions, Democracy and Security, 9(1–2), pp. 40–60.

¹¹ See P. C. Schmitter (2012) Ambidextrous Democratization and its Implications for MENA (Paper, Florence: European University Institute). Available at http://www.eui.eu/Documents/DepartmentsCentres/SPS/Profiles/Schmitter/AmbidextrousDemocratization.pdf, accessed May 14, 2012; J. Gerschewski, W. Merkel, A. Schmotz, C. H. Stefes & D. Tanneberg (2013) Warum überleben Diktaturen? PVS, 47, pp. 106–131.

¹² G. O'Donnell & P. Schmitter (1986) Transitions from Authoritarian Rule (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press).

¹³ T. Carothers (2002) The End of the Transition Paradigm, Journal of Democracy, 13(1), pp. 5–21.

¹⁴ W. Merkel (2004) Embedded and Defective Democracies, Democratization, 11(5), pp. 33–58.

¹⁵ Schmitter, Ambidextrous Democratization and its Implications for MENA, p. 1.

¹⁶ D. J. Galbreath (2012) Securitizing Democracy and Democratic Security: A Reflection on Democratization Studies, Democracy and Security, 8(1), p. 35.

¹⁷ On the concept of patrimonial societies, see M. Weber (1972) Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Grundriß der verstehenden Soziologie [Economy and society: An outline of interpretive sociology] (Tübingen: Mohr); and on Arab authoritarianism and democratization, see: D. Brumberg (2002) The trap of liberalized autocracy, Journal of Democracy, 13(4), pp. 56–68; D. Jung (ed.) (2006) Democratization and Development (New York: Palgrave Macmillan); P. Pawelka (1985) Herrschaft und Entwicklung im Nahen Osten [Authority and development in the Middle East] (Heidelberg: Müller); SWP (2007) Challenges for Policy-oriented Research on the Middle East: Changing Actors, Reform Priorities, and Security Approaches (Berlin: German Institute for International and Security Affairs); H. Mattes (2008) ‘We're in the Arab World, man. Forget democracy:’ Die schwierige Transformation autoritärer Regime in Nahost [The difficult transformation of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East] GIGA Focus, 8, pp. 1–8; Bicchi (2008) Democracy assistance in the Mediterranean: An overview; M. Zaki (ed.) (2008) Civil Society and Democratization in the Arab World: Annual Report 2007 (Cairo: Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies); and P. Pawelka (1985) Herrschaft und Entwicklung im Nahen Osten: Ägypten [Authority and development in the Middle East: Egypt] (Heidelberg: Müller).

¹⁸ N. Kreitmeyer & O. Schlumberger (2010) Autoritäre Herrschaft in der arabischen Welt [Authoritarian rule in the Arab World], Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte [Politics and Contemporary History], 24, pp. 16–22.

¹⁹ S. Huntington (1991) The Third Wave. Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman, OK: Oklahoma University Press), p. 306.

²⁰ See reports from different perspectives: Council of the European Union, EU Annual Report on Human Rights 2008 (Brussels, November 27, 2008); Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Bastion of Impunity, Mirage of Reform: Human Rights in the Arab Region: Annual Report 2009 (Cairo, 2009); US Department of State, 2008 Human Rights Report: Egypt. Available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119114.htm, accessed February 25, 2009; EU Office of Amnesty International, ‘EU-Egypt Association Council Meeting: Amnesty International's Key Human Rights Concerns’ (Brussels, 2006).

²¹ W. Merkel (2004) Embedded and Defective Democracies, Democratization, 11(5), p. 33.

²² See L. Hooghe & G. Marks (2001) Multi-level Governance and European Integration (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield).

²³ J. Kelley (2006) New Wine in Old Wineskins: Promoting Political Teforms through the new European Neighbourhood Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, 44(1), p. 31f.

²⁴ European Commission & High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2011) A Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean. Available at http://eeas.europa.eu/euromed/docs/com2011_200_en.pdf, accessed June 8, 2011.

²⁵ P. Bauer (2013) European-Mediterranean Security and the Arab Spring: Changes and Challenges, Democracy and Security, 9(1–2), p. 6f.

²⁶ See: Bauer (2013) European-Mediterranean Security and the Arab Spring.

²⁷ M. Beck (2013) The Comeback of the EU as a ‘Civilian Power’ through the Arab Spring?. Available at http://www.giga-hamburg.de/giga-focus, accessed October 20, 2013.

²⁸ European Commission (2013) EU's response to the ‘Arab spring’: The state-of-play after two years (Memo, 13/81, 2013), Brussels. Available at http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-81_en.htm, accessed March 27, 2013.

²⁹ Ibid, p. 1.

³⁰ European Commission & High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2014) Joint Staff Working Document. Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2013. Regional Report: A Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean Partners, Brussels, 27.3.14, SWD (2014) 100 final, available at: http://eeas.europa.eu/enp/pdf/2014/country-reports/israel_en.pdf, accessed May 21, 2014, p. 2.

³¹ Ibid. p. 7ff.