The EU Democratization Efforts in the Middle East and North Africa (original) (raw)
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EU democratization efforts beyond its borders - the case of Tunisia
2012
1\. Introduction 5 2\. EU Democracy Promotion Beyond its Borders: Current Literature and Shortcomings 6 3\. Analytical Framework: Democratization in the MENA Post Arab Spring 8 4\. Case Selection - Tunisia 9 5\. Democratic Transition, Consolidation, and the EU’s Role 10 5.1 The Dignity Revolution – A Postponed Certainty 10 5.2 Post-Revolution Measures and the Role of the EU 11 6\. Conclusion 17 Literature 20The EU has been engaged in democracy promotion, human rights, and civil liberties in the Mediterranean countries for over two decades with results ranging from very limited success to total failure. The revolutions in the Arab world – that have caught the EU and Western countries by surprise – provide a window of opportunity for real democratic reforms in the region. The successful democratization in Tunisia will send positive messages to the neighboring countries. Why should the EU be more involved in supporting Tunisia’s democratic transition? And what can the EU do to support ...
Third World Quarterly, 2020
Instead of writing off the post-uprising period in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as a failed attempt at democratisation, this article argues that the region is still undergoing an ambiguous and contingent process in which democratisation survives as one likely path among others. From this alternative viewpoint, the uprisings have multi-faceted, complex and uncertain consequences that constitute the beginnings of a long-term transitional phase in which various forces of political development continue to coexist in competing fashions. We argue that amidst this ambiguous process, the uprisings have introduced game-changing dynamics with regard to democratisation. We further attempt to identify these dynamics and discuss the potential value of the post-uprising experience as an asset for regional democratisation. For this purpose, we underline at least three crucial aspects of the post-uprising experience regarding democratic development in the region: (1) the demonstration of the potential for political change, (2) the contribution to the democratic learning curve, and (3) the emergence of Tunisia as a 'transition game'. This study aims to serve as a guiding analytical exercise in the study of democratisation within ambiguous political environments, such as the post-uprising MENA region, where identifying the direction of democratisation may prove difficult.
Regenerating the State in the Arab World: The Role Of the European Union in Democracy Building
2010
In the socio-political history of the Arab world, two notions have defined the essence of statehood in the region: Arabism and Islam. It is argued by some that certain distortions by political extremists in relation to these two ideas have brought about either stateless nations or nationless states in Middle Eastern and North African societies. This explains some of today's facts on the ground regarding democracy in the Arab region. European governments, perplexed by the violence engendered by the contrasting realities of the 'legitimate states' in the region, have struggled to understand these facts, and yet have put forward policies for the regeneration of an effective role of the state in democracy building in the Arab world. This paper makes policy suggestions for the Arab region. It presents a summary of the democracy challenges faced by states in the region. Most importantly, it provides a framework and recommendations for EU policy in support of the role of the state in democracy building in the Arab world. It argues that forcing democracy building in the Arab world, led by a self-serving European logic based on pre-established models of a European style democracy, without taking into account the dual characteristics of the state in the region, Arabism and Islam, can only end in failure. The paper suggests that the EU should support the states in the region in building an alternative, positive socio-political narrative of democracy in the Arab world, that is, a simple narrative of 'well-being for all'. This can only happen by creating a new paradigm in which the EU abandons the fantasy of stability offered by autocratic regimes in the Arab world, and if the EU learns from the problems caused by its approach to regime change.
Democratisation in ambiguous environments: positive prospects for democracy in the MENA region after the Arab Spring, 2020
Instead of writing off the post-uprising period in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as a failed attempt at democratisation, this article argues that the region is still undergoing an ambiguous and contingent process in which democratisation survives as one likely path among others. From this alternative viewpoint, the uprisings have multi-fac-eted, complex and uncertain consequences that constitute the beginnings of a long-term transitional phase in which various forces of political development continue to coexist in competing fashions. We argue that amidst this ambiguous process, the uprisings have introduced game-changing dynamics with regard to democratisation. We further attempt to identify these dynamics and discuss the potential value of the post-uprising experience as an asset for regional democ-ratisation. For this purpose, we underline at least three crucial aspects of the post-uprising experience regarding democratic development in the region: (1) the demonstration of the potential for political change, (2) the contribution to the democratic learning curve, and (3) the emergence of Tunisia as a 'transition game'. This study aims to serve as a guiding analytical exercise in the study of democratisation within ambiguous political environments, such as the post-uprising MENA region, where identifying the direction of democratisation may prove difficult.
Democratization is always an ambidextrous process. On the one hand, it triggers a universalistic set of norms, events, processes and symbols. On the other hand, democratization involves a much more particularistic set of 'realistic' adaptations to the structures and circumstances of individual countries. In analysing the structures and conjunctures of countries in the Arab World during the past decades, scholars looked at them from the perspective of persistent authoritarianism. This essay exploits democratization theory -as well as its converseby analysing the universalistic set of events, processes and symbols of democratization elsewhere in the world, and then identifying the particularistic characteristics of timing, location and coincidence that seem likely to affect the political outcome of regime change in the countries affected by recent popular uprisings in the Arab World.
The EU has been engaged in democracy promotion, human rights, and civil liberties in the Mediterranean countries for over two decades with results ranging from very limited success to total failure. The revolutions in the Arab world – that have caught the EU and Western countries by surprise – provide a window of opportunity for real democratic reforms in the region. The successful democratization in Tunisia will send positive messages to the neighboring countries. Why should the EU be more involved in supporting Tunisia’s democratic transition? And what can the EU do to support Tunisia’s efforts to build and reform its institutions and to move towards a consolidated democracy with a functioning market economy? Answering these research questions requires understanding the major failures of the EU in the Mediterranean region – the Union of the Mediterranean is on hold and conditionality (at least political conditionality) is problematic and questionable. Prior to the Dignity Revolution, security and stability were moving in the opposite direction to democracy –leading the EU to focus more on the former. Now, consolidating democracy, economic development, stability, and security on the EU’s Southern borders are moving in the same direction. This paper argues that, first, supporting democracy is a necessary condition for guaranteeing stable and secure southern borders and, secondly, economic growth is a necessary condition for consolidating democracy and political reforms in Tunisia.
Democratization is always an ambidextrous process. On the one hand, it triggers a universalistic set of norms, events, processes and symbols. On the other hand, democratization involves a much more particularistic set of 'realistic' adaptations to the structures and circumstances of individual countries. In analyzing the structures and conjuncture of countries in the Arab World during the past decades, scholars looked at them from the perspective of persistent authoritarianism. In this essay, we exploit democratization theoryas well as its converse by analyzing the universalistic set of events, processes and symbols of democratization elsewhere in the world, and then identifying the particularistic characteristics of timing, location and coincidence that seem likely to affect the political outcome of regime change in the countries affected by recent popular uprisings in Arab World.
International Journal of Social Science Research and Review
This Article draws on the analysis of historical relations between the European Union and the Southern Mediterranean countries and highlights the main initiatives and consequences of the adopted practices of democratisation in the region following the Arab Uprisings. The main focus is on the continuity and limited changes in the new approach. One of the main findings is that the limited reform of the EU approach primarily resulted from the inherited political constraints. The net result was a set of structured security-orientated relationships that will continue to repeat earlier mistakes before 2011. The mechanisms of democracy promotion including conditionality remained inherently full of contradictions. The double standards in applying the conditionality principle in addition to the lack of significant leverage rendered the EU democratisation approach of the Southern neighbours inapt. Despite the 2011 ENP review promise of a substantial change in the EU democratisation approach...
2012
The EU has been engaged in democracy promotion, human rights, and civil liberties in the Mediterranean countries for over two decades with results ranging from very limited success to total failure. The revolutions in the Arab world -that have caught the EU and Western countries by surprise -provide a window of opportunity for real democratic reforms in the region. The successful democratization in Tunisia will send positive messages to the neighboring countries. Why should the EU be more involved in supporting Tunisia's democratic transition?
Democratization in the Middle East and North Africa: A More Ambidextrous Process?
Mediterranean Politics, 2016
Democratization is always an ambidextrous process. On the one hand, it triggers a universalistic set of norms, events, processes and symbols. On the other hand, democratization involves a much more particularistic set of 'realistic' adaptations to the structures and circumstances of individual countries. In analyzing the structures and conjuncture of countries in the Arab World during the past decades, scholars looked at them from the perspective of persistent authoritarianism. In this essay, we exploit democratization theoryas well as its converse by analyzing the universalistic set of events, processes and symbols of democratization elsewhere in the world, and then identifying the particularistic characteristics of timing, location and coincidence that seem likely to affect the political outcome of regime change in the countries affected by recent popular uprisings in Arab World.