Research Papers

This paper analyses the EU's relations with Libya and Belarus over the past decade. It is argued that the EU's pursuit of pragmatic politics and emotional image politics has led to significant U-turns in its policies towards autocratic regimes in its neighbourhood, which cannot entirely be reduced to a conflict between values and interests. Both Libya and Belarus were initially largely ostracized by the EU because of grave concerns over democratic conduct and repeated violations of human rights in those countries. However, the regimes' increasingly important role in EU security (and, in particular, border security and the ‘fight’ against ‘illegal’ migration) led the EU to switch to a policy of pragmatic engagement with both regimes in 2003/4-2009. Then, following the Arab Spring popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, the EU (and its member states) once again drastically changed their positions on the two authoritarian regimes. I argue that the latest policy shift is partly a result of pragmatic reasoning, but also due to the emotional image politics and the need for the EU and some of its member states to communicate to the public that they 'do something' to change authoritarian regimes.