in the North African Arab world, democracy has been trying to sprout serenely through real parliaments. Some, if not all of them, have been working first and foremost as constituent assemblies, formulating constitutions where, in theory laced by hope, the absolutist conditions enjoyed only by the dictators would be forever abolished.In such a setting, the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly holds a privileged, if highly responsible, position both as a model of democratic governance as well as a gathering place where states are encouraged to emulate the more 'democratic' among them. Speakers/Presidents of the nascent and the older Parliaments could galvanise this institution to take a major role in the Union for the Mediterranean, so that parliamentary democracy is seen as a real dialogic instrument for peace. To that goal this TELOS is dedicated.
This book analyses and compares the preferential relations between the EU and the countries on its eastern and southern peripheries. It presents a comprehensive study of the emerging pan-Euro-Mediterranean regional integration and analyses the economic, political and social strategies adopted by the EU and will be an indispensable reference work for those working on issues related to EU enlargement and integration.
Der Tagungsband zur internationalen und interdisziplinären Konferenz 2014 analysiert mit Blick auf die Umbrüche in den Ländern des südlichen Mittelmeers die Herausforderungen der Europäischen Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik. Neben einer Bilanz der Europäischen Nachbarschaftspolitik und der Erfahrungen des Europäischen Auswärtigen Diensts in den Ländern der südlichen Peripherie werden die sozio-ökonomischen und sozialen Dynamiken sowie die Bedeutung gesellschaftlicher Akteure, insbesondere islamistischer Gruppen für die Entwicklungen der Region und die EU Politik untersucht. Darüber hinaus integriert der Band die Perspektiven der Türkei und Israels auf die Entwicklungen in der Region und erläutert deren Reaktionen. Mit Beiträgen von: Steffen Angenendt, Maximilian Benner, Dustin Dehez, Çagri Erhan, Burak Küntay, Baran Kusoglu, Amichai Magen, Piril Ocak, Sharon Pardo, Silvia Popp, Alessandro Quarenghi, Stephan Roll, Julia Simon und Jan Šnaidauf.
'Here's a work arriving just at the right moment and contributingnew insights at precisely the time when public opinion remains sceptical of the not very promising future we are preparing for our children, when governments balk at explaining to their electorates the vital but unpopular decisions that have to be taken and when civil society, with few ways and means, is finally becoming involved. This remarkable work will help all actors to understand the inter-linkages between economic activities and the environment in the Mediterranean Basin and take concerted, effective action to build a positive, sustainable future' Mohamed Ennabli, former Minister of the Environment and Land Use Panning, Tunisia 'The Blue Plan has carried out a remarkable assessment of the serious environmental probems and insufficiently targeted cooperation in the Mediterranean, and also of new financing systems to be implemented, which would increase the capacities of local authorities and economic and social partners' Georges Corm, former Minister of Finance, Lebanon The Mediterranean Basin and its surrounding countries is a microcosm of the environmental and sustainability challenges facing people across the world. Depending on the development path it takes in the future, the region can either become a positive model for the regional regulation of globalization, or, more onerously, it might reinforce global instability. This unique volume is the definitive, authoritative assessment of the environment and development of the Mediterranean Basin and its 22 countries and territories, spanning five decades from 30 years in the past to 20 years into the future. Produced by the Blue Plan within the framework of UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan and backed by the EU and national governments, it brings together the work of more than 100 researchers from dozens of national, regional and local governments and research groups into the only comprehensive insight into sustainable development issues in the region. Core coverage includes water, energy, transport, cities, rural and coastal areas, as well as related issues such as climate change, population growth, geopolitical changes, unemployment and poverty, pollution, economic and environmental policies, regional cooperation and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Information is clearly presented through hundreds of full-colour maps, graphs, tables and a wealth of case studies. This is a must-have reference for all levels of government, NGOs and libraries, as well as practitioners, academics and businesses involved in economics, natural resource management, land and maritime transport, water, energy, infrastructure, urban and rural development, agriculture, fishing and aquaculture, tourism and coastal management. Countries and territories covered: Spain, France, Italy, Monaco, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Preface by Lucien Chabason, Chairman of the Blue Plan.
Should the European Neighbourhood Policy stop at the borders of the European Union’s immediate neighbouring countries? This book is the first full length study of the ’neighbours of the EU’s neighbours’, a concept originally introduced by the European Commission with reference to Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. These regions in the EU’s broader neighbourhood are often perceived as an ’arc of crisis’ from which manifold challenges emanate for Europe. This timely book takes stock of the state of the EU’s cooperation with the neighbours of its neighbours and explores how the concept might help promote security, stability and prosperity beyond the countries which are formally part of the European Neighbourhood Policy. How can the EU create bridges between these regions? What instruments does the EU have at its disposal and how can it link them in order to respond to the challenges and overcome the current fragmentation? One of the conclusions is the suggestion to consider a pragmatic ’EU Strategy for the Neighbours of its Neighbours’ which addresses the needs of the broader EU neighbourhood in a more systematic and consistent manner and helps transform in the long run the ’arc of crisis’ into another ’ring of friends’.
This book looks both backward and forward with regard to the European Union’s political strategies towards its neighbouring countries. By bringing together the perspectives of critical geopolitics, policy studies and border studies, it presents a comprehensive review of the European Neighbourhood Policy and how it impacts the ongoing construction of the EU’s external frontiers. Is the EU committed to promoting integration in a ‘wider’ European space, or is a “fortress Europe” emerging where the strengthening of internal cohesion is coupled with the militarisation of its external borders? The book aims to problematize this question by showing how the EU’s external policies are based on a mixture of openness and closure, inclusion and exclusion, cooperation and securitisation. The European Neighbourhood Policy is a controversial strategy where regionalization and bordering, homogenisations and differentiations, centrifugal and centripetal forces proceed side-by-side, in an explicit attempt to construct a selective, mobile and fragmented border. A specific focus is devoted to the diversity of geo-strategies the EU is pursuing in its neighbouring countries and regions, macro-regional strategies and cross-border cooperation initiatives as new scales of cooperation, and the role of other global players.
The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy provides a comprehensive overview of the EU’s most important foreign policy instrument, provided by leading experts in the field. Coherently structured and adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this handbook covers the most important themes, developments and dynamics in the EU’s neighbourhood policy framework through a series of cutting-edge contributions. With chapters from a substantial number of scholars who have been influential in shaping the study of the ENP, this handbook serves to encourage debates which will hopefully produce more conceptual as well as neighbourhood-specific perspectives leading to enriching future studies on the EU’s policies towards its neighbourhood. It will be a key reference point both for advanced-level students, scholars and professionals developing knowledge in the fields of EU/European Studies, European Foreign Policy Analysis, Area studies, EU law, and more broadly in political economy, political science, comparative politics and international relations.
The EU has often been considered to be a weak security actor. However, any assessment of the EU’s role in international security is underpinned by a specific understanding of security. This book is based on a broad understanding of security. We consider that security concerns are increasingly triggered by challenges such as terrorism, climate change, mass migration flows, and many other ‘non-traditional’ security issues. This book tries to capture these aspects of the EU’s fast changing security policies following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009. There are several common themes stemming from a combined reading of the chapters. Firstly, the EU has sought to simultaneously pursue its security objectives and spread its values, such as democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, by encouraging reforms in its neighbourhood. However, it is increasingly evident that there are tensions and contradictions between these two objectives, which can be illuminated and better understood by considering another strand of literature, with which there has been little engagement in EU studies to date, namely the literature on human security. This book is the first to analyse these hugely topical developments in European security after the Lisbon Treaty. It was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society.
The book analyses the foreign policies of EU Mediterranean states and applicants in the context of wider EU-Mediterranean relations. It provides a unique comparative analysis of current members and applicant Mediterranean states in the 1990s at a time when EU processes of enlargement and integration raise fundamental needs to define interests of the EU in its Southern and Eastern relationships.
The conflict in South Ossetia in the summer of 2008 and the Ukrainian energy crisis in early 2009 served to highlight the tensions that continue to influence EU-Russia relations in regard to the region comprising the former republics of the Soviet Union or the ‘shared neighbourhood’. This book draws together research which examines the objectives of EU and Russian foreign policy and the complexities of the security challenges in this region. Although both actors have a shared interest in cooperating to create conditions of peace and stability, we have in recent years observed the development of growing competition between the EU and Russian foreign policy agendas. This book was based on a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.
