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Abstract: The most powerful European Union (EU) member states have suffered devastating terrorist attacks in the past decades and identify Islamist terrorism as one of the most pressing threats to their national security. They recognize that instability in the southern neighbourhood has exacerbated the threat Islamist terrorism poses to their national security. Adopting an intergovernmental approach, I argue that member states' southern strategies are a product of threat perceptions and policy response preferences. This article creates a typology of security strategies through using content analysis to categorize EU member states' threat perceptions and policy response preferences as indicated in national security strategies produced in 2009-2018 period. Based on my analysis of member states' threat perceptions and policy response preferences to threats emanating in the southern neighbourhood, I conceptualize three southern security strategies: restraint, preventative engagement, and selective intervention. Based on this typology, I identify the EU member states' southern security strategy. Focusing particularly on the most powerful EU member states, namely the EU-5 , I then apply this typology to make some tentative predictions on the shifts in the EU's southern strategy post-Brexit. I expect the EU's southern security strategy to shift towards one of selective intervention in the post-Brexit period.
Abstract: In the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, the European Union’s (EU) relations with the Southern neighbour countries (SNCs) have been reframed in the light of a new élan of democracy promotion. The underlying logic of this approach was to leverage the building and consolidation of democracy and rule of law through enhanced cooperation in terms of more ‘markets, money and mobility’. A sort of mobility-democracy nexus has been assumed by the European Commission as a crucial dimension of the EU’s external relations with SNCs. Within this strategy, Mobility Partnerships (MPs) with SNCs have been identified as a key policy tool for EU democracy promotion. Via original qualitative analysis of European Commission’s documents, MPs, and other migration and mobility agreements that the EU has negotiated with SNCs since 2011, this paper explores how the mobility-democracy nexus has been defined in the Commission’s talks. We critically discuss the effectiveness of this nexus and demonstrate the inefficacy of MPs as a tool to promote democracy by fostering more mobility and regular migration flows. Looking at the content of MPs with three SNCs (Tunisia, Morocco, and Jordan) allows to trace the transformation of EU external relations with SNCs from a principled approach into selective issue-oriented cooperation based on more specific and sectorial policy choices.
Abstract: The European Green Deal (EGD) marked the commitment of the European Union (EU) to a carbon-free, socially inclusive economic system. Even if conceived as an essentially domestic growth strategy, the EGD is inspiring EU diplomacy, as economic cooperation will be needed to realize the EGD’s ambitious vision. This profile aims to investigate and reflect on the potential implications of the EGD for the countries in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood, especially in the energy sector, agriculture and food system, trade in raw materials, climate action, and circular economy. We expect the EGD to result in an increased investment in renewable energy, a reduction in emissions, green diplomacy, and funding opportunities for green projects and green infrastructures. The EGD brings with it attractive opportunities for a better cooperation on climate action and opportunities for job creation, green growth, and sustainable development. We believe that the EGD has the potential to be a win–win deal for the EU and its Southern Neighbours, with the EU goal to supply green inputs and of creating a market for green products.
Abstract: A populist surge in Europe is affecting Euro-Mediterranean cooperation 25 years after the Barcelona Process was launched, reinforcing existing trends of de-Europeanization and renationalization of foreign policies. This article analyses the landscape of political contestation of Mediterranean cooperation in Europe in a new age of populism, focusing on France, Italy and Spain as well as the Visegrad 4 states that have turned from bystanders to veto players in Mediterranean affairs. We find that the 'thick' ideologies from which populists are borrowing condition the thrust of their influence. The impact of right-wing populism trumps that of its left-wing counterpart in quantity and quality, while market-liberal populism is in decline and regional populism is mainly an issue only in Spain. Populism has personalized decision-making and shaped political agendas directly and indirectly, most notably on migration. It has whitewashed authoritarian leaders in the southern Mediterranean and fragmented the European Union's position on key issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict. National interests and the weight of institutions have, however, formed a counterbalance to the focus on migration emanating from domestic politics. Populism alone cannot be blamed for renationalization trends that have existed before, but it does build on and reinforce them.
Abstract: The EU has drawn on its migration policy in the Middle East and North Africa as a method of region-building set to reconfigure a broader EU Mediterranean Neighborhood. At the same time, EU migration policy as a region-building initiative has had contentious, albeit understudied, effects. We know little about either variation in states' responses to the EU or the contextual dynamics and motives pushing them to challenge EU migration policy as a vector for regulating regions 'from beyond'. Building on the case of displacement from Syria, the article targets the EU's refugee approach in its 'neighborhood' as a site of contention whereby states, rather than being policy borrowers, dispute the EU's attempt to regulate regions. The article employs insights from EU refugee cooperation with Lebanon, one of the key regional host states. It shows how Lebanon has sought to contest and adapt the EU's script of resilience-building, which consists of strengthening governments' capacity to host refugees 'within the region' and at a distance. Looking at EU neighbors as policy agents rather than vessels helps to unravel the tensions underlying the external, regional, and bilateral dimensions of EU migration policy and delineate how these overlapping dimensions play out on the ground.
Abstract: This article addresses the puzzle of why the European Union (EU) struggles to learn from ineffective attempts to support democratization in the Arab world but instead continuously (re‐)produces democracy support malpractices. To better understand this phenomenon, we draw from practice theory and conceptualize EU democracy support as practices performed by a community of insiders who act within a complex constellation of communities of practice. Due to the way in which communities function, decision‐makers do not critically reflect on the background knowledge on which they base their practices and thus do not learn how to improve them. This constellation model offers a unique take on non‐learning within the EU and in (policy‐making) groups more generally. We illustrate the proposed conceptual framework through an empirical analysis of EU democracy support in Egypt, showing that the EU performs practices similar to those before the 2011 Revolution due to its inability to learn.
Abstract: The agricultural sector in the EU Southern Neighbourhood Partners (SNP) is struggling to respond to sustainability challenges. It needs stronger policies to deliver balanced sustainability outcomes in economic, social and environmental terms. Based on recent information and a structured assessment of the impacts of prevailing public policies on the sustainability of agriculture in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey, carried out within the Sustainmed project (https://sustainmed.iamm.fr), we conclude that several factors contribute to the struggles in strengthening sustainability functions of agriculture in these countries. In the main, there is a lack of policy coherence toward sustainability uncovered by the dual, unbalanced consideration given to different sustainability factors in the study countries: pure economic factors largely prevail over factors related to resource conservation and social and cultural values, these latter factors being a precondition for long‐term economic growth. Consequently, there is a genuine need for a more consistent vision of sustainability issues in future policy agendas, including better data systems and specific policies to incentivise sustainable agriculture in the SNP; as the challenge over the coming decades in these countries will be to increase agricultural production and productivity while at the same time managing natural resources sustainably. Findings can guide policymakers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to identify pathways towards sustaining agriculture in the SNP.
Abstract: The last decade has seen relative stability in the global gas market, with European countries benefiting from access to abundant and inexpensive gas supplies, primarily from Russia. However, the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war has exposed Europe's energy vulnerabilities, given its heavy reliance on Russian gas. In response, Algeria has emerged as a key alternative, drawing increased diplomatic engagement from the European Union. Algeria's significance stems not only from its considerable gas reserves and potential for production expansion but also from its geographical proximity to Europe and its robust gas infrastructure, including LNG tankers and a comprehensive pipeline network. This paper seeks to delve into Algeria's potential to bolster the European Union's energy security. Through a detailed examination of Algeria's resource capabilities and insights drawn from the experiences of Spain and Italy—countries that have navigated political tensions and competition with Russian gas respectively—the study aims to provide a nuanced analysis of how Algeria can play a pivotal role in ensuring a stable and secure energy supply for Europe.
Abstract: Despite the bilateral commitment to engage in 'regular dialogue on issues related to mobility, migration and asylum', EU incentives have failed in leveraging Algeria to secure cooperation notwithstanding seemingly converging interests. What explains the Algerian endless resistance to the EU's pressure and incentives? This paper claims that a focus on the historical development of the Algerian security regime improves the understanding of its non-cooperative approach vis-à-vis the EU.
Abstract: Hydrogen produced by renewable energy sources (green hydrogen) is at the centrepiece of European decarbonization strategies, necessitating large imports from third countries. Egypt potentially stands out as major production hub. While technical and economic viability are broadly discussed in literature, analyses of local acceptance are absent. This study closes this gap by surveying 505 locals in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (Port Said and Suez) regarding their attitudes towards renewable energy development and green hydrogen production. We find overall support for both national deployment and export to Europe. Respondents see a key benefit in rising income, thereby strongly underlying the economic argument. Improved trade relationships or improved political relationships are seen as potential benefits of export, but as less relevant for engaging in cooperation, putting a spotlight on local benefits. Our study suggests that the local population is more positive than negative towards the development and scaling up of green hydrogen projects in Egypt. •Local stakeholders in Egypt largely support green hydrogen development.•Both national deployment and export to Europe are supported.•Local economic benefits are a strong motive for support.•Improved trade or political relationships to Europe are minor concerns.•Results rest on survey of 505 locals in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (Port Said and Suez).
Abstract: While ample research on the political economy of the MENA has pointed to the underlying causes of the Arab uprisings, little analysis has been done on the political economies after this massive rupture. To fill this gap, the contributions in this themed section use in-depth case studies from Egypt and Tunisia post-2011, and look at how socioeconomic challenges were addressed once political institutions - in very different regime contexts - were back in place. Given the fairly similar political economies, the case studies offer intriguing insights into obstacles that both a democracy and an autocracy face in tackling socioeconomic problems in issue areas such as fiscal policy, labour laws and decentralisation reforms. Studying these conflicts helps us to identify the relevant actors and their relative power at a given moment. The analysis also provides an opportunity to identify how formal and informal institutions are used and if the new institutional setting allows for effective conflict management. The results uncover a mixed depiction of capacities to implement reforms, which cannot be explained by the regime variable or absolute state capacity alone. Instead, explanatory power is found in a dynamic, relational, agency-oriented approach to analyzing state and social actors in issue-specific socioeconomic reform conflicts.
Abstarct: This article adds the case of Egypt to the themed section's overall research interest, examining the extent to which the Egyptian government has reacted in its migration policies to incentives provided by the EU. It shows that Egypt's 2016 'Anti-Smuggling Law' (ASL), praised as a 'milestone', was crucial for the regime's further power consolidation. Building on Tsourapas's concept of 'migration interdependence', Egypt's migration policy rather fulfils the purpose as 'dramaturgical act', aimed more at pleasing an international audience than improving migrants' living conditions. Thus, the article also contributes to the widely debated 'illiberal paradox' in migration policies
Abstract: It is common to criticize the State of Israel for its lack of strategy. This is true with respect to its foreign relations, and with specific reference to her relations with the EU. This criticism was reinforced during the five terms of Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership (1996–1999 and 2009–2021). Commentators expressed strong criticism of his leadership, blaming him for shaping and implementing Israel’s foreign relations in a non-strategic, incoherent, and inconsistent manner. This article provides an alternative perspective, arguing that during his five terms Netanyahu and his governments adopted and pursued a calculated and coherent policy towards the EU, which was aimed at mitigating EU intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and at dismissing any manifestation of EU political criticism towards Israel. The article analyses his policy towards the EU and the main instruments adopted in order to promote it, through the prism of scholarship pertaining to speech-acts and Euroscepticism.
Abstract:This article argues that Jordan should advocate for transforming the Abraham Accords’ regional integration initiatives into a regional security architecture that brings prosperity and security to all its members—including the Palestinians. Jordan is well positioned to influence the Accords’ strategic planners given its credibility, diplomatic assets, and strategic location; it will continue to be a lynchpin in regional security and future integration plans.
Publisher`s note: Framing the analysis in Jordan’s foreign and security policy, this article discusses Jordanian migration diplomacy in relation to incentives offered by the EU. It is demonstrated that the unstable situation resulting from the long-lasting Syrian crisis has created a need for the Jordanian state to develop new political strategies, adjusting institutional policies and practices to the EU’s conditionalities regarding democratic progress and socio-economic reforms. The article takes its point of departure in the concept of migration diplomacy and bases its analysis of how the Jordanian government has developed its institutional flexibility on the theory of historical institutionalism.
Abstract: The Syrian crisis that began expanding in 2012 has sent millions of refugees into neighbouring countries and beyond and proved to be a testing ground for the European Union’s new approach to humanitarian crises. Focused on European Union-funded educational programmes carried out in response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, this article argues that the European Union’s approach has nevertheless negatively impacted refugees’ lives because of its embeddedness in the international regime of resilience that has gained ground in the field of refugee protection. Indeed, while the resilience regime appears to be a continuation of the neoliberal system of rule, it in fact represents a paradigmatic shift that implies political and moral retreat from donors’ responsibility. Applied to refugee management, the agenda of “resilience” thus contradicts the rationale for burden-sharing that previously involved a “shared responsibility” between external donors and the hosting State. Based on Kratochwil’s praxis approach, this article therefore aims to empirically expand upon the recent literature centred on “resilience” and “self-reliance” in the field of refugee management. In doing so, it demonstrates how neoliberal features of resilience further hinder refugees’ lives as these features entail a total separation from an adequate rights-based approach.
Abstract: While much literature has concentrated on the EU's policy to return people from within its borders, this article seeks to understand how the EU cooperates with refugee-hosting states beyond its borders, in its 'Southern Neighbourhood', to uphold conditions for voluntary, safe and dignified returns. We build on the case of Lebanon, which hosts the highest number of refugees per capita worldwide after receiving more than one million displaced Syrians in the wake of Syria's 2011 war, and where the EU has made tremendous investments to help build 'resilience' in the face of displacement. Although the UN concludes that conditions for safe return to Syria are not in place, Syrian refugees in Lebanon are now facing increasing pressure to return to their country of origin. We show that the EU's policy rhetoric and practice on returns in Lebanon has been defined by incongruities that cast a pall on its ability to contribute to rights-based returns. In rhetoric, the EU aligns itself with international principles on return in dignity and safety - without, however, explicating its own role in realising such principles. In practice, its resilience-building approach remains at odds with such framings because it leaves the question of how resilience-building interacts with negative push factors for return in the host country unaddressed. 'Resilience' then contributes to the formalisation of precarity that prompts refugees to return prematurely. It is, moreover, co-opted by Lebanese politicians who argue for rash returns while pointing at the destabilising effects of what they see as imposed integration. These contestations incentivise the EU to opt for non-engagement with actual situations of contested returns so as to maintain partnerships for externalisation.
Abstract: This paper analyses the work carried out by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Libya from 2009 to 2020 to shed light on its ambivalent relationship to the EU externalisation of migration and border management. While also looking at Libyan organisations, and at initiatives such as EU-funded professionalisation projects, which aim to co-opt the nascent local civil society into the EU border externalisation mechanism, the paper largely focuses on international NGOs, with specific attention being paid to the Italian NGO CIR. The paper shows that even in the difficult Libyan context there is some potential for NGOs/CSOs to radically and effectively oppose EU externalisation, or at least try to do so through activities such as public information and advocacy. However, in a context in which migrants are systematically exposed to a wide range of abuses, and foreign or foreign-funded actors are seen with suspicion, NGOs/CSOs have limited room for manoeuvre. In fact, they mostly end up filling the gaps of the local migration and border management system on behalf of their (European) donors, thus supporting the smooth operation of externalised border management. This is also visible in the way NGOs/CSOs address human rights, interact with donors and local authorities, and perpetuate dichotomies and categorisations that support migration containment policies.
Abstract: Operation Irini is a new EU naval operation, in the framework of CSDP, to address violations of the arms embargo and illicit export of petroleum products in Libya, imposed by the United Nations Security Council. As a second objective, the Operation contributes to the training of Libyan coastguards in their fight against illegal immigration, as well as combating the mafias involved in the smuggling of migrants in the Central Mediterranean. From the outset, the naval operation has had scant resources and, unsurprisingly, its results have been poor in these first three years. In short, this new Operation, in the wake of Sophia’s poor results in the last months of its activity, represents a new setback for the CSDP and for the EU’s ambition to become a relevant actor in contemporary international society. Unfortunately, moreover, allegations of significant violations of migrants’ human rights by Libyan coast guard forces cast a shadow over the EU, which is assisting and training these security forces.
Abstract: This essay analyzes how race politics and immigration politics intersect in present-day Morocco, entangling various actors across multiple scales, from the continental to the interpersonal. While often problematic, we suggest that externalization can provide a lens through which to trace the production and circulation of race in the Morocco-EU borderlands and to chart the uneasy proximities that emerge among states, migrants and “civil society,” and racialized outsiders and insiders. And while numerous studies analyze the geopolitical and economic dimensions of the externalized border, how externalization reworks racial-social categories of belonging in “partner” or “third” states like Morocco is less known. Drawing on ethnography and interviews, we argue that externalization is a useful analytical category for understanding transnational border projects as racial projects that operate beyond the domain of citizenship or the state, reworking categories of belonging and exclusion from the scale of the body to the global scale. The Morocco-EU borderlands constitute a “contact zone” where multiple peoples, institutions, processes, and histories interact to produce blackness as out-of-place, changing the way that Moroccans understand race, place, and membership. The mobilization of race in the Morocco-EU border impacts the lives and movements of West and Central African migrants, but may also compound the exclusions of racialized Moroccans at home and in Euro.
Abstract: The war in Ukraine and the looming threat of climate change are driving the strategic need to diversify sources of energy, including renewables. Therefore, the European Union aims to develop energy relations with non‐EU member states, and Morocco has become a key priority. Both Brussels and Rabat are pursuing ambitious green policies and cooperation initiatives, including on hydrogen. Drawing on theories of international institutions and political economy, this article analyzes hydrogen‐related relationship patterns and explains demand and supply factors as drivers of institutionalized energy cooperation. We examine the EU's hydrogen approach and development, its relations with Morocco, and the political interests of both sides. Our analysis shows that the complex interdependencies in the evolving EU‐Morocco hydrogen relations indicate that demand can be met by supply. However, challenges remain, including the need to deepen the partnership and prepare the market for commercial hydrogen production.
Abstract: La aplicación al Sáhara Occidental de diversos acuerdos que regulan las relaciones económicas entre la UE y Marruecos ha generado un largo debate, iniciado a finales de los años ochenta, en el seno de las instituciones. Este debate ha pasado por dos grandes fases y se ha articulado en cuatro grandes ejes temáticos: el deber de no reconocimiento, la soberanía permanente de los pueblos sobre sus recursos naturales, el consentimiento del pueblo saharaui y las cuestiones relativas a la presentación, novedad aportada por las sentencias anulatorias de 2021. En este artículo analizaremos las dos etapas y los cuatro ejes temáticos
Publisher`s note: This paper examines the EU Police Mission in the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS) with a focus on its effects on everyday police work on the ground. The main argument is that the mission illustrates the ways in which its training and advisory activities work to foster logics and practices that feed into and reproduce the borders that have over the years been imposed, primarily through Israeli security practices. Operating under conditions of 'contested statehood', EUPOL COPPS promotes Palestinian policing activities based on particular spatial logics and actions as to the governance of the Palestinian population. The article presents new empirical material collected through interviews and document analysis. As such, it aims to build bridges between the literature on critical border studies, EU external relations, the EU’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as the literature on the EU police missions in conflict and post-conflict missions by emphasizing their spatial dimension.
Abstract: Addressing the challenge of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and their affiliates who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join Da'esh and other terrorist groups has been a priority for the EU and the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator since 2013, both within the EU and internationally. This article sets out comprehensive EU cooperation with international partners on foreign terrorist fighters: It covers EU action related to the camps and prisons in North East Syria where FTFs and family members are held, accountability of FTFs and affiliates, cooperation on FTFs with the EU’s neighbourhood: Turkey, Western Balkans and Middle East and North Africa regions, multilateral engagement with the United Nations and other fora as well as addressing Islamist extremist ideology which is contributing to the radicalization process. From a practitioner's perspective, the article provides the EU policy framework and its evolution, as well as examples of capacity building and other initiatives.
Abstract: Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) are usually defined as trade costs. Their reduction through regulatory alignment increases trade and could thus be beneficial for countries concerned. NTMs include any regulations at and behind the border (i.e. domestic regulations) that may have an impact on trade. This view of NTMs does not account for potential benefits on public policy goals, welfare, value addition and trade flows. Further, NTM alignment between countries with strongly divergent regulatory standards will cause adjustment and compliance costs. Here we integrate the effects of compliance costs for producers emerging from regulatory alignment into the ‘ÖFSE Global Trade’ model. We use the ongoing negotiations on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Tunisia (ALECA) to empirically assess the compliance costs for Tunisian agricultural producers to align to EU standards and model potential economic impacts. Scenario designs for our simulation analysis build on firm surveys. Results show that North-South trade agreements with asymmetrical regulatory alignment involve substantial adjustment costs for Southern producers and lead to losses in exports, value-added and employment, resulting in high economic and social costs that need to be weighed by policy-makers against any perceived long run gains from regulatory alignment.
Abstract: This article analyzes the political transitions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya after the Arab Spring. While they share similarities regarding the overthrow of their long‐lasting regimes, each country followed different trajectories. Early in the process, Tunisia underwent a smooth transformation, while Egypt witnessed intense polarization following the electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood—and authoritarianism with the military coup two years later. Different from those two, Libya came to the brink of failure with a civil war, and the country still suffers from rampant violence. The article contends that Tunisia's success in the transition toward democracy lies in its relative homogeneity, consensus‐building, and civil‐military relations. The focus of the article is on the initial transitions. Tunisia's process appears to have stalled, and future study will be required to understand how such states can consolidate their democratic transitions.
Abstract: Tunisia's civil society has widely been identified as one of the factors that prevented the country from following the unfortunate path of other Arab states in which long-term autocrats were ousted in 2011. Hence, the EU has identified it as a key interlocutor, began to provide more substantial support to associations and started to regularly consult with activists. While substantial research has been devoted to the EU's financial assistance for civil society, interactions outside the donor-recipient relationship have received less attention. In line with this special issues' objective to examine how the EU projects democratic norms through its interactions with non-state actors in in the Southern Mediterranean, this article zooms in on its consultations with Tunisian civil society. It finds that the EU is including only a non-representative subset of civil society activists as a result of its practices. To what extent these activists' perspectives and preferences are conveyed to Brussels is not entirely clear either. Moreover, some of its practices strengthen the perception of the EU being a patronizing and paternalistic actor.
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