Suchergebnisse

This paper analyses India's internal peacebuilding approach in Bihar, north-east India and Jammu and Kashmir regarding its similarity with the liberal peace and its effectiveness in terms of conflict transformation. By focusing on the human rights and needs components of Indian peacebuilding, we investigate whether state interventions have managed to transform the local conflict spheres in their political, economic, societal and gender/family dimensions. Drawing on fieldwork carried out between 2011 and 2013, the paper remains sceptical about both the novelty and effectiveness of the Indian peacebuilding approach.

As a result of the failure of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, new initiatives from civil society have emerged. Initiators learned from the shortcomings of the peace process and seek to achieve peace through understanding the suffering of the Other. Such attempts leave an open space for the trauma of the counterpart and engage both sides in deconstructing mutually exclusive identities that represent the Other as an existential threat. They represent a first step for a deep dialogue and have the potential to (de)threatenize the Other. This article examines two such initiatives that are unique in not seeking to explain their own narrative to the Other, but to present the narrative of the Other to their very own community.

In a context of ongoing popular resistance in the Arab world, the question of how this has affected the view of the EU's role in the region by European stakeholders has not yet sufficiently be inquired into. How is the EU – and its presence and practices particularly – perceived within its own core, by its policymakers on one hand, and by the European civil society it also involves in its policies, on the other? Institutional stakeholders see the space the EU occupies in the Mediterranean as rather limited with other powers growing in the region. In contrast to this, resistance of European civil society to the current EU role is growing. Not only is the EU now criticized of massive human rights violation itself, specifically in the area of migration, but its whole development model is called into question, including within Europe itself. At the same time, civil society presents a strong alternative imagination of the EU as a non-colonial presence whose practices are based on a universal human rights approach with a strong focus on socio-economic rights/social justice and the inclusion of a variety of actors.
European Union, Mediterranean, civil society, democracy, human rights, resilience

Euro-Mediterranean policies, as well as research on them, have been characterized by a Eurocentric approach based on a narrow geopolitical construction of the Mediterranean. Moreover, stakeholders, policy instruments, and policy issues have been defined from a European standpoint, marginalizing the perspectives and needs of local states and people, and ignoring the role played by new and powerful regional and global actors. In an increasingly multipolar world, overcoming this Euro-centric approach is key for Europe to play a more meaningful role in the region. Thus, MEDRESET aims to reset our understanding of the Mediterranean and develop alternative visions for a new partnership and corresponding EU policies, reinventing a future role for the EU as an inclusive, flexible, and responsive actor in the region. This will be achieved through an integrated research design which is in three phases: it 1) de-constructs the EU construction of the Mediterranean, 2) counters it by mapping the region on the geopolitical level and in four key policy areas (political ideas, agriculture and water, industry and energy, migration and mobility) alongside a three-dimensional framework (stakeholders, policy instruments, policy issues), which directly feeds into 3) a reconstruction of a new role for the EU, enhancing its ability to exert reflexive leadership and thus its relevance in the region. Embedded in an interdisciplinary research team, as well as in a civil society and media network, MEDRESET evaluates the effectiveness and potential of EU policies by investigating whether current policies still match the changing geopolitical configuration of the Mediterranean area. The perceptions of EU policies and the reasons for their successes or failures are assessed by surveying top-down and bottom-up stakeholders on both shores of the Mediterranean. Country-tailored policy recommendations for the EU will be given for four key countries: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia.

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.

The European Union (EU) has come out with a new agenda for the southern neighbourhood, reflecting a changing environment in which the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for a shared economic and social recovery are put to the forefront. Does this new agenda respond to the demands and practices of the Arab uprisings or does it revert to the stability paradigm? We argue that the EU could regain relevance in a multipolar region by putting itself more firmly behind citizens and their demands in the region. Rather than seeing citizens as "norm-takers" of the EU, it needs to begin to see them as "norm-makers", including for the EU. Covid-19 has so far seemed to delay the EU's entry into a new era, but it could yet act as a catalyst for the bloc to rethink its policies in the longer term. In this respect, the Green Deal may offer most potential for the EU to move forward towards a more sustainable and equitable approach that puts participatory democracy, the whole range of human rights and social–ecological justice upfront.

The European Union (EU) has come out with a new agenda for the southern neighbourhood, reflecting a changing environment in which the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for a shared economic and social recovery are put to the forefront. Does this new agenda respond to the demands and practices of the Arab uprisings or does it revert to the stability paradigm? We argue that the EU could regain relevance in a multipolar region by putting itself more firmly behind citizens and their demands in the region. Rather than seeing citizens as "norm-takers" of the EU, it needs to begin to see them as "norm-makers", including for the EU. Covid-19 has so far seemed to delay the EU's entry into a new era, but it could yet act as a catalyst for the bloc to rethink its policies in the longer term. In this respect, the Green Deal may offer most potential for the EU to move forward towards a more sustainable and equitable approach that puts participatory democracy, the whole range of human rights and social–ecological justice upfront.

Despite being challenged by authoritarian counter-revolutionary responses, the Coronavirus pandemic, and a complex (geo)political context, the uprisings that started ten years ago in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa are still very much alive. By adopting a comparative approach, this comprehensive volume investigates the ongoing protests on three levels of analysis (local, national, regional) and through seven case studies (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia). Particular attention is also placed on the role of the European Union and its member states in this historical transformation.