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Combining the literature on sovereignty and Europeanisation, this article investigates the engagement and impact of the European Union (EU) on contested states (states lacking recognition) through a comparative study of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Palestine. We find that characteristics of contested statehood mediate EU engagement and impact: the lack of international recognition limits EU's engagement but encourages development promotion, international integration and assistance of local civil society. Lack of territorial control limits engagement, but ineffective government offers opportunities for development promotion and state-building. As such, and in addition to offering a rich empirical account of two prominent contested states, the article contributes to the discussion of international engagement by developing an innovative conceptual framework for understanding EU's impact on contested states—a topic neglected within a literature dominated by conventional statehood or conflict resolution themes but very important given extensive international engagement in contested states—and related conflicts.

Combining the literature on sovereignty and Europeanisation, this article investigates the engagement and impact of the European Union (EU) on contested states (states lacking recognition) through a comparative study of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Palestine. We find that characteristics of contested statehood mediate EU engagement and impact: the lack of international recognition limits EU's engagement but encourages development promotion, international integration and assistance of local civil society. Lack of territorial control limits engagement, but ineffective government offers opportunities for development promotion and state-building. As such, and in addition to offering a rich empirical account of two prominent contested states, the article contributes to the discussion of international engagement by developing an innovative conceptual framework for understanding EU's impact on contested states—a topic neglected within a literature dominated by conventional statehood or conflict resolution themes but very important given extensive international engagement in contested states—and related conflicts.

Abstract
This article addresses the relationship—and incongruences—between international norms and practices in EU foreign policy with a particular focus on the EU's dealing with situations of contested statehood resulting from foreign occupation. To this purpose, we revisit the literature on the international norm–practice nexus, dynamics, and mismatches—including debates on hypocrisy—and we conceptualize territorial (un)differentiation from the perspective of both norms and practices. We then examine the extent to which and how normative change and practical change have taken place, and mutually interacted, in the EU's territorial (un)differentiation toward Israel–Palestine and Morocco–Western Sahara. We draw on the scholarship on the international norm life cycle, which we also replicate as an analytical framework to empirically track the processes of emergence, cascade, and internalization of practices. Based on our case studies, we argue that, while emerging EU territorial differentiation toward Israel–Palestine has resulted from a process in which normative change and practical change have become entangled in a feedback loop, and the norm–practice gap has tended to be closed, in the case of Morocco–Western Sahara there has been substantial normative change but practices have remained unaltered, which has led such gap—and the perception of EU hypocrisy—to widen.

This article examines the diplomatic practices of contested states with the aim to challenge structural legal-institutional accounts of these actors' international engagement, which are unsatisfactory in explaining change and acknowledging their agency. Considering contested states as liminal international actors, their diplomatic practices stand out for their hybridity in transcending the state versus nonstate diplomacy dichotomy, as well as for their structure-generating properties in enabling social forms of international recognition—absent legal recognition. The concept is empirically applied to examine the everyday interaction between the representatives of Palestine and Western Sahara and the European Union (EU)'s institutions in Brussels. It is argued that there has been a renewal and expansion of the Palestinian and Sahrawi repertoires of diplomatic practices vis-à-vis the EU, which has entailed growing hybridization. Innovation originated in more "transformative" diplomatic practices capitalizing on the contested states' own political in-between-ness, which established relations that contributed to constituting and endogenously empowering them in the Brussels milieu. The way was thus paved for more "reproductive" diplomatic practices that mimic traditional state diplomacy to gain prominence. The impact achieved on "high politics" demonstrates how bottom-up practice-led change may allow contested states to compensate for their meagre material capabilities and punch above their structural weight in international politics.

EU–Middle East relations are multifaceted, varied and complex, shaped by historical, political, economic, migratory, social and cultural dynamics. Covering these relations from a broad perspective that captures continuities, ruptures and entanglements, this handbook provides a clearer understanding of trends, thus contributing to a range of different turns in international relations. The interdisciplinary and diverse assessments through which readers may grasp a more nuanced comprehension of the intricate entanglements in EU–Middle East relations are carefully provided in these pages by leading experts in the various (sub)fields, including academics, think-tankers, as well as policymakers. The volume offers original reflections on historical constructions; theoretical approaches; multilateralism and geopolitical perspectives; contemporary issues; peace, security and conflict; and development, economics, trade and society. This handbook provides an entry point for an informed exploration of the multiple themes, actors, structures, policies and processes that mould EU–Middle East relations. It is designed for policymakers, academics and students of all levels interested in politics, international and global studies, contemporary history, regionalism and area studies.

1. The European Union and Security Sector Reform: current practices and challenges of implementation / Oya Dursun-Ozkanca and Antoine Vandemoortele 1 . - 2. Between knowledge and power: epistemic communities and the emergence of security sector reform in the EU security architecture / Giovanni Faleg 23 . - 3. From speeches to actions: EU involvement in the war in afghanistan through the EUPOL Afghanistan Mission Maxime / H.A. Larivé 47 . - 4. Adaptation, resistance and a (Re)turn to functionalism: the case of the Bosnian police restructuring process (2003-2008) / Antoine Vandemoortele 64 . - 5. The implementation of the EU security sector reform policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Arnout Justaert 81 . - 6. Security sector reform in Kosovo: the complex division of labor between the EU and other multilateral institutions in building Kosovo's police force / Oya Dursun-Ozkanca and Katy Crossley-Frolick 98 . - 7. The European Union's role in the Palestinian Territories: state-building through Security Sector Reform? Dimitris Bouris 119 . - 8. Security Sector Reform and Georgia: the European Union's challenge in the Southern Caucasus / Greg Simons 134 . - 9. Which and whose authority? EU support to security governance in Aceh / Simone Tholens 156