Bulletin n. 3/2014
February 2015
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
    • Simon Julia
    The European Union and its Southern Mediterranean Neighbourhood – What Kind of Democracy Promotion after the Arab Spring?
    in Europe en formation (L') , n° 371, 2014/1 ,  2014 ,  58-81
    ‘Democracy promotion’ has become a catch-all phrase covering a broad spectrum of foreign policy actions. Nevertheless, the precise understanding of the ‘kind of democracy’ which is to be promoted is hardly ever analyzed—or even specified by the external actors themselves. As the term has (re-) gained centre stage in the European Union’s ‘new’ Neighbourhood policy after the Arab uprisings, the construction of the concept of democracy for export into the Southern Mediterranean states is worth reflecting upon. This article inductively extracts and qualitatively analyses the specific conceptual objects of transfer as well as the domestic channels relevant for the EU’s democratizing efforts pre- and post-Arab Spring. It argues that the EU’s respective conceptual framework remains largely underspecified and implicit. However, especially in post-Arab Spring period, the EU intends to strengthen features of political, representative democracy. The dominant liberal colouring of the political/societal and economic order to be promoted, which was already evident before 2011, remains intact.
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