This book assesses European Union policies aimed at encouraging democratization in East Asia and the North African and Middle Eastern States within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership - these two regions being the source of some of the strongest conceptual challenges to 'Western' liberal democracy since the end of the cold war. The book addresses theoretical debates over the international dimensions of political change and the EU's characteristics as an international actor. The factors both driving and inhibiting European democracy promotion policies are explored. The book outlines the EU's distinctive bottom-up philosophy, aimed at constructing the socio-economic and ideational foundations for political liberalization, but argues that the EU has in practice failed to develop a fully comprehensive and coherent democracy promotion strategy.

Democracy promotion in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains a central pillar of the foreign policy the European Union (EU). Rather than concentrating on the relations between the incumbent authoritarian regimes and the opposition in the relevant countries, and on the degree to which these relations are affected by EU efforts at promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law (an outside-in approach), this collection of articles inverts the focus of such relationships and attempts to look at them ‘inside-out’. While some contributions also emphasise the ‘outside-in’ axis, given that this continues to be analytically rewarding, the overarching thrust of this book is to provide some empirical substance for the claim that EU policy making is not unidirectional and is influenced by the perceptions and actions of its ‘targets’. Thus, the focus is on domestic political changes on the ground in the MENA and how they link into what the EU is attempting to achieve in the region. Finally, the self-representation of the EU and its (lack of a) clear regional role is discussed. This book was published as a special issue of Democratization.

When Europe's Great War engulfed the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalists rose in revolt against their Turkish rulers and allied with the British on the promise of an independent Arab state. In October 1918, the Arabs' military leader, Prince Faisal, victoriously entered Damascus and proclaimed a constitutional government in an independent Greater Syria. Faisal won American support for self-determination at the Paris Peace Conference, but other Entente powers plotted to protect their colonial interests. Under threat of European occupation, the Syrian-Arab Congress declared independence on March 8, 1920 and crowned Faisal king of a 'civil representative monarchy.' Sheikh Rashid Rida, the most prominent Islamic thinker of the day, became Congress president and supervised the drafting of a constitution that established the world's first Arab democracy and guaranteed equal rights for all citizens, including non-Muslims. But France and Britain refused to recognize the Damascus government and instead imposed a system of mandates on the pretext that Arabs were not yet ready for self-government. In July 1920, the French invaded and crushed the Syrian state. The fragile coalition of secular modernizers and Islamic reformers that had established democracy was destroyed, with profound consequences that reverberate still. Using previously untapped primary sources, including contemporary newspaper accounts, reports of the Syrian-Arab Congress, and letters and diaries from participants, How the West Stole Democracy from the Arabs is a groundbreaking account of an extraordinary, brief moment of unity and hope - and of its destruction.

This book provides a systematic analysis of the EU’s extensive, but so far largely failed, efforts to promote democracy in the Mediterranean region, thoroughly assessing its democracy promotion in relation to two Mediterranean countries – Jordan and Turkey. By pinpointing essential prerequisites for democracy promotion and analyzing how the EU’s policies have related to these, the author offers a theoretically based analytical framework focused on the importance of the local orientation and ownership of the project of democratization, and the broader dialogue between the democracy promoter and the partner society. The author concludes that there are basic deficiencies in the EU’s democracy promotion, leading to policy implications of vital importance as the EU now grapples with how to make its democracy promotion successful. The EU’s Democracy Promotion and the Mediterranean Neighbours will be of interest to students and scholars of Democratisation studies, EU studies, Middle East Studies and EU Neighbourhood studies.

This open access book aims to show which factors have been decisive in the rise of successful countries. Never before have so many people been so well off. However, prosperity is not a law of nature; it has to be worked for. A liberal economy stands at the forefront of this success - not as a political system, but as a set of economic rules promoting competition, which in turn leads to innovation, research and enormous productivity. Sustainable prosperity is built on a foundation of freedom, equal opportunity and a functioning government. This requires a stable democracy that cannot be defeated by an autocrat. Autocrats claim that "illiberalism" is more efficient, an assertion that justifies their own power. Although autocrats can efficiently guide the first steps out of poverty, once a certain level of prosperity has been achieved, people begin to demand a sense of well-being - freedom and codetermination. Only when this is possible will they feel comfortable, and progress will continue. Respect for human rights is crucial. The rules of the free market do not lean to either the right or left politically. Liberalism and the welfare state are not mutually exclusive. The "conflict" concerns the amount of government intervention. Should there be more or less? As a lawyer, entrepreneur, and board member with over 40 years of experience in this field of conflict, the author clearly describes the conditions necessary for a country to maintain its position at the top.

This book examines US foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean and the region’s key role in the practice and evolution of American exceptionalism. The political developments in the Eastern Mediterranean during the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, gave to the US opportunities to express, in the most explicit way, its anti-colonialism, the fervent support of open and democratic societies, and its willingness to openly confront tyranny and oppression whenever this was possible (or necessary) for American interests. Since that time, the region has been a testing ground for the core elements of American foreign policy deployed worldwide. The monograph shows the contributions of the United States during critical moments in the region, such as the First Barbary War (1801-1805), the introduction of Truman Doctrine, Washington’s role in the Suez Crisis, the Greek junta and the Imia Crisis of 1996. It also scrutinizes the different levels of the economic, military and diplomatic challenges which China, Russia and Turkey present today, while it also covers the American approach to the Arab Spring. From a ‘Shining City on a Hill’ to the current ‘Make America Great Again’ mottoes, this critique follows American Foreign Policy in the Eastern Mediterranean and the strong bonds that the nation established with the geostrategic, political and ideological features of the region. The pace of recent events, and the increasing complexity of this global corner, prove a challenge to America today; the future and clarion call that hard work and the finest ingenuity are necessary to keep its regional hegemony, and its course toward increased prosperity. This work’s goal is to inspire the conversations by academics, diplomats, leaders (both political and military) and most of all businessmen, to this end.