Contested State Identities And Regional Security In The Euro Mediterranean

Del Sarto argues that internal disputes over national identity limit the ability of states to participate in regional forums. This is a close look at problems faced in negotiating the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) as a regional security project, with particular attention to case studies of Israel, Egypt and Morocco.

A keen analysis of the impact of European regionalism in the Mediterranean, focusing on the politics of representation and constructions of identity. The Mediterranean - as a region, as an area of EU policy and as a place on the fringe of a rapidly integrating Europe - has been a theoretically under-researched area. Containing empirical research on Greece, Malta and Morocco, this theory-led investigation into the political effects of the Mediterranean's symbolic geography, complements work done on the constitution of entities such as nations, Europe and the West. The Politics of Regional Identity draws on the field of critical IR and critical geopolitics to examine both the theoretical and empirical manifestations of these changing geopolitical images and discourses. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of politics, international relations and the European Union.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Borderlands: Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East proposes a profound rethink of the complex relationship between Europe-defined here as the European Union and its members-and the states of the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe's 'southern neighbours'. These relations are examined through a borderlands prism that conceives of this interaction as of one between an empire of sorts, which seeks to export its order beyond the border, and the empire's southern borderlands. Focusing on trade relations on the one hand, and the cooperation on migration, borders, and security on the other, the book revisits the historical origins and modalities of Europe's selective rule transfer to MENA states, the interests underwriting these policies, and the complex dynamics marking the interaction between the two sides over a twenty-year period (1995-2015). It shows that within a system of structurally asymmetric economic relations from which Europe and MENA elites benefit the most, single MENA governments have been co-opted into the management of border and migration control where they act as Europe's gatekeepers. Combined with specific policy choices of MENA governments, Europe's selective expansion of its rules, practices, and disaggregated borders have in fact contributed to rising socio-economic inequalities and the strengthening of authoritarian rule in the 'southern neighbourhood', with Europe tacitly tolerating serious violations of the rights of refugees and migrants at its fringes. Challenging the self-proclaimed benevolent nature of European policies and the notion of 'Fortress Europe' alike, the findings of this study contribute to broader debates on power, dependence, and interdependence in the discipline of International Relations.

Recent efforts by the United States and its allies to promote democracy, security, and stability in the Middle East owe much to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) – also known as the Barcelona Process – an important region-building plan in the Mediterranean region since 1995. The Convergence of Civilizations represents the output of an innovative and much needed collaborative project focused on the EMP. Editors Emanuel Adler, Beverly Crawford, Federica Bicchi, and Rafaella A. Del Sarto have set out to show that regional security and stability may be achieved through a cultural approach based on the concept of regional identity construction, and aim to take stock of the EMP in relation to this goal. The contributors to this collection focus on the obstacles Mediterranean region construction faces due to post 9/11 regional and global events, the difficulties of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tensions between the EU and the US over Iraq, and the expected consequences of EU enlargement. They also seek to bring the EMP and region-making practices to the attention of American scholars in order to promote a more fertile academic exchange. Ultimately, the contributors demonstrate that the EMP and related region-making practices, while failing so far to promote the development of a Mediterranean regional identity and to achieve regional stability, suggest nonetheless a viable model for regional partnership and cooperation, and thus, for preventing a 'clash of civilizations' in the long haul. The Convergence of Civilizations will be an important tool for meeting the current global challenges being faced by nation-states as well as those in the future.

In this new and fully revised edition Pinar Bilgin provides an accessible yet critical analysis of regional security in the Middle East, analysing the significant developments that have taken place in the past years. Drawing from a wide range of critical approaches to security, the book offers a comprehensive study of pasts, presents, and futures of security in the region. The book distinguishes itself from previous (critical) studies on regional security by opening up both ‘region’ and ‘security’. Different from those approaches that bracket one or the other, this study takes seriously the constitutive relationship between (inventing) regions, and (conceptions and practices of) security. There is not one Middle East but many, shaped by the insecurities of those who voice them. This book focuses on how present-day insecurities have their roots in practices that have, throughout history, been shaped by ‘geopolitical inventions of security’. In doing so, the book lays the contours of a framework for thinking critically about regional security in this part of the world. This second edition of Regional Security in the Middle East is a key resource for students and scholars interested in International Relations and Political Science, Security Studies, and Middle East Studies.

This volume presents essential aspects of Mediterranean politics to be reconsidered in the light of the Arab upheavals since 2010. The focal point of the book is the question in how far European-Mediterranean relations are challenged by the various developments. It explores the relationship between security and democracy within the Arab countries and in European-Mediterranean relations. The ambiguity between the promotion of democratic values and the preservation of common interests in cooperation in economic and security affairs is stirred up by changing political actors and new conflictual constellations inside the Arab countries. All these changes evoke new challenges for all areas of the European-Mediterranean cooperation. Thus, the volume assembles contributions from different angles on the re-formulation of the European Neighbourhood Policy as well as the Democracy Assistance towards the Southern Mediterranean. It discusses the major security issues of a cooperative security architecture, counter-terrorism action, migration control and security sector reform in order to explore the relevant challenges in the field. The contributions analyse the recent developments and challenges, provide critical insights into those fields and endeavour to provide some proposals for improving Mediterranean cooperation on democracy and security. This book was published as a special issue of Democracy and Security.

This book offers an analysis of the dynamics of Israeli-European relations and discusses significant developments in that relationship from the late 1950s through to the present day. The emphasis is placed on five broad themes that address different dimensions of the relationship: 1) Israeli-E.U. relations and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; 2) Israeli-E.U. relations in a multilateral context; 3) the bilateral nature of Israeli-E.U. relations; 4) Israeli (mis)perceptions of the E.U.; 5) the future of Israeli-E.U. relations.

The tension between the aim of creating sustainable multilateral region-building dynamics and the need to find more differentiated and flexible forms of cooperation has been ever-present in Euro-Mediterranean relations. The proliferation of different and partially overlapping initiatives in recent years – the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Union for the Mediterranean – is a plain expression of this tension. The 2011 episodes of regime-change in the Arab world have once again placed the debate about differentiation in EU’s relations with Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries at the top of the Union’s foreign policy agenda. This book contributes to theoretical and practical debates on whether differentiation processes can aid or hinder policy convergence processes and region-building efforts more widely. The contributions to this collection assess the actual significance and consequences of differentiation in Euro-Mediterranean relations through sector-specific in-depth analyses, covering issue areas as varied as environmental policy, migration, foreign and defence policy, trade, energy, civil protection and democracy promotion. The particular angle and comprehensive analysis of this book will make it of great interest for both scholars and policy makers alike in a moment when Euro-Mediterranean are in need of a thorough rethink. This book was based on a special issue of Mediterranean Politics.