The European Union and the Arab Spring

Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East

Edited by Joel Peters

The European Union and the Arab Spring: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East, edited by Joel Peters, analyzes the response of the European Union to recent uprisings in the Middle East. The past year has witnessed a wave of popular uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East which the Western media dubbed “the Arab Spring.” Demanding greater freedoms, political reform, and human rights, the protesters swept away many of the region’s authoritarian autocratic regimes. The events of the Arab Spring have been truly historic. They led to profound changes in the domestic order of Middle Eastern states and societies and impacted the international politics of the region. Additionally, these events necessitate a comprehensive reappraisal by the United States and most notably by the EU in their relations with the states and peoples of the region.

This timely collection brings together nine leading authorities on European foreign policy and the Middle East, and investigates three central questions: What role did the European Union play in promoting democracy and human rights in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East? How did the EU respond to the uprisings of the Arab street? What challenges is Europe now facing in its relations with the region? Peters’ The European Union and the Arab Spring is at the forefront of scholarship on this historic socio-political shift in the Middle East and its wider implications for the West.

Lexington Books

Pages: 180 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-0-7391-7443-2 • Hardback • March 2012 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

978-0-7391-7445-6 • Paperback • March 2012 • $57.99 • (£45.00)

978-0-7391-7444-9 • eBook • March 2012 • $55.00 • (£42.00)

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / General, Social Science / General, Political Science / Human Rights, Political Science / General, Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy

The European Union and the Arab Spring

Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

The European Union and the Arab Spring: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East, edited by Joel Peters, analyzes the response of the European Union to recent uprisings in the Middle East. The past year has witnessed a wave of popular uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East which the Western media dubbed “the Arab Spring.” Demanding greater freedoms, political reform, and human rights, the protesters swept away many of the region’s authoritarian autocratic regimes. The events of the Arab Spring have been truly historic. They led to profound changes in the domestic order of Middle Eastern states and societies and impacted the international politics of the region. Additionally, these events necessitate a comprehensive reappraisal by the United States and most notably by the EU in their relations with the states and peoples of the region.

This timely collection brings together nine leading authorities on European foreign policy and the Middle East, and investigates three central questions: What role did the European Union play in promoting democracy and human rights in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East? How did the EU respond to the uprisings of the Arab street? What challenges is Europe now facing in its relations with the region? Peters’ The European Union and the Arab Spring is at the forefront of scholarship on this historic socio-political shift in the Middle East and its wider implications for the West.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 180 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-0-7391-7443-2 • Hardback • March 2012 • $120.00 • (£92.00)

978-0-7391-7445-6 • Paperback • March 2012 • $57.99 • (£45.00)

978-0-7391-7444-9 • eBook • March 2012 • $55.00 • (£42.00)

Subjects: Political Science / International Relations / General, Social Science / General, Political Science / Human Rights, Political Science / General, Political Science / International Relations / Diplomacy

Author

Joel Peters is associate professor of government and international affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Europe and the Challenge of the Arab Spring
Chapter 1. Reversing the Hierarchy of Priorities in EU-Mediterranean Relations
Chapter 2. Promoting Human Rights and Democracy: A New Paradigm for the European Union
Chapter 3. Tunisia and Libya
Chapter 4. Egypt
Chapter 5. Palestine
Chapter 6. Israel
Chapter 7. Lebanon and Syria
Chapter 8. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries and Yemen
Chapter 9. American Democracy Promotion in the Middle East: Lessons for Europe?

Reviews

This volume provides a crucial and very timely contribution to the debate on how the European Union can best assist in the strengthening of freedom, justice, and dignity in the Middle East and North Africa at a time when the region is undergoing significant processes of political restructuring. Comprising critical analyses of concepts, preferences, and policies that have been underwriting EU democracy promotion in the region hitherto, this volume is essential reading for academics and policy-makers alike.
— Raffaella A. Del Sarto, European University Institute, Florence

The historic events that have swept across the Arab world in 2011 compel the European Union to revise and possibly reverse its approach towards the region. The European Union and the Arab Spring provides a timely, illuminating, and refreshing analysis of the potential and the pitfalls of the EU’s past, present, and prospective policies towards the southern Mediterranean.

— Nathalie Tocci, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome

Revealing the gaps between rhetoric and practice, this important and timely volume is a hard hitting account of the shortfalls of EU policy in human rights and democracy promotion in the Middle East. One overriding message that unites the different chapters is that a change in direction is urgently needed to address the new challenges facing the Arab world.
— Louise Fawcett, St. Catherine's College, Oxford

The contributors to this volume look at the role played by the EU in promoting democracy and human rights in the Middle East during the Arab Spring. They analyse the extent to which the EU responded to the uprisings and identify the challenges Europe now faces as the Middle East continues to evolve.

— Brief Notices