Suchergebnisse

A review essay on books edited by (1) Barbara Roberson, The Middle East and Europe: The Power Deficit (London: Routledge, 1998); (2) Sven Behrendt & Christian-Peter Hanelt, Bound to Cooperate -- Europe and the Middle East (Gutersloh: Bertelsmann Foundation, 2001); (3) George Joffe, Perspectives on Development: The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (London & Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1999); & (4) Hans Gunter Brauch, Antonio Marquina, & Abdulwahab Biad, Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for the 21st Century (London: Macmillan, 2000). These books clearly show the multifaceted nature of the relationship between Europe & both the Mediterranean region & the Middle East. The volume edited by Roberson offers insights into Europe's failure to resist the agenda set by the US; Middle Eastern economic integration; & Europe's relationship with specific Middle Eastern nations. The equally comprehensive, Bound to Cooperate, goes beyond the European dimension to present broad views of international relations in the Middle East. The Joffe-edited volume focuses on the consequences of liberalization in relation to the Europe-Mediterranean partnership, while the long, reader-unfriendly book edited by Brauch et al is primarily concerned with technical details of confidence-building measures while avoiding the region's serious problems. J. Lindroth

The key concerns in work on the politics of the Middle East in the past decade have been economic & political liberalization/democratization (or the absence thereof) & security, both domestic & international, along with a continued focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict. There has been an increasing recognition that these issues are strongly interrelated. Europe cannot avoid concerns over economic & political stability in the region affecting its own interests, which together with economic reasons for engagement with the region, has brought about a desire to see economic & political reform take place. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Initiative (EMPI) is one result of this. The background against which these policies, concerns, & hopes are evolving is globalization, both of the discourse of democracy & in the growing hold of liberal market economics internationally. Recent research on the politics & political economy of the region, & on EMPI, however, shows that a combination of political-economic & related political-cultural factors, along with the Arab-Israeli conflict, continue to hamper political & economic reform in the Middle East, & that European policy as currently conceived is unlikely to affect this greatly. Yet such recent work also shows that aspects of globalization are changing the environment in which Middle Eastern regimes are having to function, while at the same time offering civil society new tools. Middle Eastern societies do, to varying extents, possess the necessary "spaces" & traditions for human "agency" to escape the constraints of domestic & international "structures" & evolve new political cultures -- including democratic ones. Existing judicial or legislative institutions may acquire volition of their own & reinforce this process. There is nothing in Islam that necessarily obstructs such possibilities, & supposedly obsolete monarchies might yet be among the most successful types of regime in coping with such change. Adapted from the source document.