European neighbourhood policy, post-normativity, and pragmatism

European Foreign Affairs Review

Volumn 15, Issue 5, 2010, Pages 663-679

  Seeberg, Peter ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK   (Denmark)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85044799821     PISSN: 13846299     EISSN: 18758223     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.54648/eerr2010047     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Following the Marseille Meeting in November 2008, the official name changed from 'Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean' to 'Union for the Mediterranean', see Final Statement, Marseille, 3-4 Nov. 2008, available at the home page for European Commission, External Relations, The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: , 22 Nov. 2009.
2. R. Aliboni et al., 'Union for the Mediterranean. Building on the Barcelona Acquis', ISS Report 1 (2008), , 22 Nov. 2009.
3. As claimed by Aliboni, the initiative was also an attempt to counteract the erosion of France's role as a foreign policy actor in the Mediterranean region. See also R. Aliboni et al., 'Putting the Mediterranean Union in Perspective', EuroMesco Paper 68 (2008), , 22 Nov. 2009.
4. For a characterization of the ENP as a new strategy for the EU and a concrete example of an analysis of one of the ENP's Action Plans in its reality, see R.A. Del Sarto & T. Schumacher, 'From EMP to ENP: What's at Stake with the European Nighbourhood Policy towards the Southern Mediterranean?', European Foreign Affairs Rewiev 10, no. 1 (2008): 17-38
5. R.A. Del Sarto, 'Wording and Meaning(s): EU-Israeli Political Cooperation according to the ENP Action Plan', Mediterranean Politics 12, no. 1 (2007): 59-75.
6. See M. Pace, 'Norm Shifting from EMP to ENP: The EU as a Norm Entrepreneur in the South?', Cambridge Review of International Affair 20, no. 4 (2007): 659-675.
7. P. Seeberg, 'European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU Democracy Promotion Agenda in Lebanon and the Dual Powers of the Lebanese Sectarian State', Democratization 16, no. 1 (2009): 81-99.
8. See R. Youngs, Europe and the Middle East: In the Shadow of September 11 (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006).
9. R. Hinnebusch, 'Authoritarian Persistence, Democratization Theory and the Middle East: An Overview and Critique', Democratization 13, no. 3 (2006): 373-395.
10. See the discussion by F. Volpi & F. Cavatorta, 'Forgetting Democratization? Recasting Power and Authority in a Plural Muslim World', Democratization 13, no. 3 (2006): 363-372.
11. See A. Hyde-Price, '"Normative" Power Europe: A Realist Critique', Journal of European Public Policy 13, no. 2 (2006): 231.
12. See also P. Seeberg, 'European Security and the "Clash of Civilisations". Differences in the Policies of France, Germany and the UK towards the Mediterranean and the Middle East?', in Clash or Cooperation of Civilisations - Overlapping Integration and Identities, ed. W. Zank (London: Ashgate, 2009), 147-166.
13. For an overview of this discussion, see P. Seeberg, '"Unity in Diversity", Security and Migration. The Changing European Foreign Policy and Security Agenda in the Mediterranean', in EU and the Mediterranean. Foreign Policy and Security, ed. P. Seeberg (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2007), 141-174.
14. F. Bicchi & M. Martin, 'Talking Tough or Talking Together? European Security Discourses towards the Mediterranean', Mediterranean Politics 11, no. 2 (2006): 189-207.
15. See, for instance, B. Tibi, Political Islam, World Politics, and Europe (New York: Routledge, 2007).
16. H. Albrecht & O. Schlumberger, '"Waiting for Godot": Regime Change without Democratization in the Middle East', International Political Science Review 25, no. 4 (2004): 371-392.
17. See B. Hettne & F. Söderbaum, 'Civilian Power or Soft Imperialism? The EU as a Global Actor and the Role of Interregionalism', European Foreign Affairs Review 10, no. 4 (2005): 551.
18. For a discussion of differential treatment on behalf of the EU, see S.C. Calleya, 'The Mediterranean Union as a Project of Differentiated Integration', in Bound to Cooperate - Europe and the Middle East II, eds C.-P. Hanelt & A. Möller (Berlin: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2008).
19. J.G. March & J. P. Olsen, 'The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life', American Political Science Review 78, no. 3 (1984): 8-9.
20. See also J.G. March & J.P. Olsen, 'Elaborating the New Institutionalism', Working Paper, Centre for European Studies 11 (2005), , 22 Nov. 2009.
21. Bertelsmann Stiftung (ed.), Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2008. Political Management in International Comparison (Bielefeld: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2008). The index bases its assessment of each state on a ten-point rating scale, ranging from one (worst score) to 10 (best score), ibid., 81 ff.
22. I am not in this article entering the discussion about to which degree it is meaningful to measure the 'quality of democracy'. Obviously, both the categories and the actual data in the BTI have to be taken with some reservation. For a critical, yet nuanced discussion, see T.A. Koelbe & E. Lipuma, 'Democratizing Democracy: A Postcolonial Critique of Conventional Approaches to the "Measurement of Democracy"', Democratization 15, no. 1 (2008): 1-28.
23. V. Perthes, Arab Elites. Negotiating the Politics of Change (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004).
24. The table is based on information and data from Amnesty International, , 22 Nov. 2009
25. Freedom House, , 22 Nov. 2009
26. Human Rights Watch, , 22 Nov. 2009.
27. These data are supplemented with information and data from the BTI; see Bertelsmann Stiftung, n. 24 above. The economic data are from the World Bank, , 22 Nov. 2009.
28. General information and historical data also from L. Dean et al. (eds), The Middle East and North Africa 2009 (London: Routledge, 2008).
29. I am grateful to Morten Valbjørn, Institute for Political Science, University of Aarhus, for pointing to the 'transition to nowhere' concept by Daniel Brumberg. Valbjørn has furthermore developed the concept of 'liberalizing autocracy' in order to grasp the specificity of the co-opting Jordanian regime; see M. Valbjørn, 'Kontinuiteten i forandringerne og forandringerne i kontinuiteten - et postdemokratisk perspektiv på Jordan' ('The Continuity in the Changes and the Changes in the Continuity - a Postdemocratic Perspective on Jordan'), in Et andet nyt Mellemøsten (A Different New Middle East), eds P. Seeberg & M. Valbjørn (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2008), 89-124.
30. See, for instance, A. Abu-Odeh, Jordanians, Palestinians and the Hashemite Kingdom in the Middle East Peace Process (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1999).
31. See Seeberg, 'European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU Democracy Promotion Agenda in Lebanon and the Dual Powers of the Lebanese Sectarian State', n. 7 above.
32. R. El-Solh, Lebanon and Arabism. National Identity and State Formation (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004).
33. See also H. Ziadeh, Sectarianism and Intercommunal Nation-Building in Lebanon (London: Hurst and Co., 2006).
34. E. Lust-Okar, 'Elections under Authoritarianism: Preliminary Lessons from Jordan', Democratization 13, no. 3 (2006): 456-471.
35. See the outline of the different plans at European Commission. European Neighbourhood Policy, ENP Action Plans and Country Reports. The home page can be found at , 22 Nov. 2009.
36. See 'Ferrero-Waldner Meets Syrian Vice-Prime Minister Al Dardari', , 20 Sep. 2009.
37. Gilles Kepel discusses the perspectives in the EU adopting a more influential position vis-à-vis the Middle East, see G. Kepel, Beyond Terror and Martyrdom. The Future of the Middle East (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008).
38. Commission of the European Communities, Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2007. Progress Report Jordan, SEC 396 (Brussels, 2008), 2.
39. A similar development in Morocco is analysed by Francesco Cavatorta, 'Divided They Stand, Divided They Fail. Opposition Politics in Morocco', Democratization 16, no. 1 (2009): 137-156.
40. The Danish Ombudsman Project can be seen as a relevant case. It is the idea of the Ombudsmanproject, through a grant of DKK 4,575,000 in the project period of 2004-2008, to 'Support the democratisation process in Jordan through assistance for the establishment of an Ombudsman institution. The Danish partner is the Danish ombudsman/Folketinget'. See , 22 Nov. 2009.
41. See L. Dean et al. (eds), The Middle East and North Africa 2009 (London: Routledge, 2008).
42. Commission of the European Communities, Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2007. Progress Report Lebanon, SEC 397 (Brussels, 2008), 5.
43. European Commission, 'European Neighbourhood Policy. EU-Lebanon Action Plan', , 22 Nov. 2009.
44. I discuss this more thoroughly in Seeberg, 'European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU Democracy Promotion Agenda in Lebanon and the Dual Powers of the Lebanese Sectarian State', n. 7 above.
45. S.P. Yadav, 'Lebanon's Post-Doha Political Theater', Middle East Report Online, , 22 Nov. 2009.
46. Statement by Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP, S159/08 (Brussels, 9 May 2008).
47. Press Statement of Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, S203/06 (Beirut, 16 Jul. 2006).
48. This point was presented and emphasized by Luc Veron, Head of the Private Office of the Commissioner in charge of External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, as Adviser on Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Transatlantic issues, in an interview by the author, 26 Apr. 2006.
49. Explained to the author in interviews on 15 and 16 Jun. 2006 at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Middle East/Africa, with Ambassador Dr Janos Hóvári, Ambassador László Fehérvárri, and Head of Department, József Tóth.