Paper Titles & Abstracts

The European Union (EU) has been engaged in democracy promotion in the Mediterranean for over two decades with results ranging from very limited success to total failure. This ineffectiveness resulted from the EU viewing the Mediterranean from a security and stability angle, even if that meant stabilizing authoritarian regimes and maintaining the fragile cooperation with those regimes in fighting terrorism and illegal immigration. The revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provide a window of opportunity for democratic reforms. What can the EU and other international players do to support democratic transition in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)? And is there any change in the EU foreign policy towards the Arab Spring countries regarding democracy promotion? Prior to the Arab Spring, security and stability were negatively correlated with democratic reforms - leading the EU and other international players to give priority to stability at the expense of democracy and human rights. Building on previous literature on Europeanization, democratization and economic development, the paper argues that democratic reforms, economic development and stability and security on the EU's Southern borders appear to be positively correlated. The paper builds on this literature to analyze and assess EU democracy promotion attitude in North Africa in the aftermath of the Arab Spring by taking Tunisia, Libya and Morocco as case studies.