A comprehensive study of the nexus between democratization and security in the Mediterranean, which are seen as essentially complementary yet threatened by political trends witnessed since the September 2001 attacks. Contributors from a variety of European and Mediterranean countries address the impact of a restructured security system, Europe's effort to establish an autonomous security and defence policy, and attempts among the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) to build regional security regimes.

This title was first published in 2003. This work provides a clearer understanding of the EU's approach towards security in the Mediterranean. After examining the EU's interests and the potential threats to security in the region, it analyzes EU security policy towards the region as a whole, through the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and towards all disputes and conflicts in the area. It recommends opening up the European Security and Defence Policy to Mediterranean participation, in order to establish a deep and equitable security partnership between both shores. The book argues that this way the EU could implement its innovative comprehensive and co-operative approach to security. Rather than focusing on the military aspect alone, this approach takes into account all dimensions of security (political, socio-economic, cultural and ecological) and is based on partnership rather than confrontation. It therefore contrasts quite sharply with the policies advocated in the US National Security Strategy.

Previously published as a special issue of Mediterranean Politics, this collection critically analyzes the dynamics and complexities of the wider Euro-Mediterranean area on the basis of individual theory-informed designs and conceptual frameworks. Since the predominant focus has been on the first (political and security partnership) and the second baskets (economic and financial partnership) of the Barcelona Process, our contributors analyze social and cultural issues (the third basket of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership), drawing upon linkages between concepts, structures and policy outcomes. Some articles focus on the impact of the EU's actor capability in the area of EU policies towards the South in enhancing interregional dialogue, understanding and cultural cooperation. Others focus on a critical discourse analysis of dialogue, identity, power, human rights and civil society (including Western and non-Western conceptions). Finally, the volume culminates with a discussion on cultural democracy in Euro-Mediterranean relations.

The creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in 1995 was seen, at the time, as a forward-thinking foreign policy which would strengthen ties between Europe and the Mediterranean Arab states. Since that time, however, almost none of this initial ambition has been translated into positive, successful policy. Twenty years on from the creation of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (now the Union for the Mediterranean), this book collects some of the most influential articles published in the Mediterranean Politics journal since 1995 – and suggests what these articles tell us about the state of relations between Europe and the Middle East. The selection of articles gives a sense of the way in which analytical debate has changed in the journal’s lifetime, a lifetime which has seen the journal at the forefront of academic study on a variety of issues in the Mediterranean region. As such, the selection is naturally a reflection of the different periods from which the articles are taken, and, taken together, they paint a picture of how the Euro-Mediterranean partnership has been reshaped over time.

The ’Arab Spring’ triggered paradigmatic shifts but, despite these changes, much in the Euro-Mediterranean region remains the same. Utilising ’Logics of Action’, an innovative theoretical framework designed to capture the complexity of political interaction in one of the fastest changing regions in the world, this book discusses developments in the region before and after the Arab Spring that can be characterised by a continuation of the norm. Expert contributors identify patterns of interaction between governmental institutions, economic entrepreneurs, religious groups and other diverse actors that withstood these historical changes and explore why these relationships have proved so robust. Connecting a unique sample of case studies on changing and persistent ’Logics of Action’ within the Euro-Mediterranean space this book provides a pivotal contribution to our understanding of political interaction between North Africa, the Middle East and the European Union. Offering a completely new perspective on the events of the ’Arab Spring’ it identifies something that seems paradoxical at first sight; persistence in times of radical change.