Bulletin n. 3/2006
December 2006
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Malmvig Helle
    Caught between cooperation and democratization: the Barcelona Process and the EU's double-discursive approach
    in Journal of International Relations and Development , Volume 9, Number 4, December ,  2006 ,  343-370
    The European Union (EU) has for a decade sought to strengthen democracy and human rights in the Mediterranean/Middle East within the framework of the Barcelona Process. Yet, it has done so in a reluctant and inconsistent manner. This is often explained through references to prior distinctions and conflicts between practice and principle, security and democracy, interest and values, thereby overlooking tensions and ambiguities in the very meaning of security itself. On the basis of a Foucauldian inspired and analytically informed discourse analysis, this article shows how the Union at the same time (re)produces two conflicting versions of how security is to be achieved, what the Mediterranean is, and which types of threats the Union face. The EU is caught in a continuous and paradoxical practice of reproducing two simultaneous and conflicting versions of security. This practice does not only make prioritization between and implementation of contradictory goals difficult, but also contributes to enhance prevalent feeling of fear and mistrust in the region.
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