The EU Foreign Policy in the Middle East and North Afrika: Examining the EU Response to the Arab Spring

Mgr. Ibrahim Fayad

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011 took all the international players by surprise. What was more surprising was the EU’s reaction to the events unfolding in its very neighbourhood. The EU’s reaction can be described as inadequate given the EU’s self-set commitments to universal values and the significance of the change. This thesis is an attempt to look at the foreign policy of the EU in regard to the Middle East and North Africa in general. Then the thesis focuses on the EU foreign policy in the region at the wake of the Arab Spring. It tries to analyze and evaluate this policy. The evaluation of the EU foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa is also informed theoretically by examining the theory of Normative Power Europe in the context of the Arab World. What is the EU foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa? And how is conducted? How did the EU respond to the Arab Spring? What does the EU response tell about the EU-MENA relations? How reliable and applicable is the concept of Normative Power Europe in the context of the Middle East and North Africa?

Abstract:

The outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011 took all the international players by surprise. What was more surprising was the EU’s reaction to the events unfolding in its very neighbourhood. The EU’s reaction can be described as inadequate given the EU’s self-set commitments to universal values and the significance of the change. This thesis is an attempt to look at the foreign policy of the EU in regard to the Middle East and North Africa in general. Then the thesis focuses on the EU foreign policy in the region at the wake of the Arab Spring. It tries to analyze and evaluate this policy. The evaluation of the EU foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa is also informed theoretically by examining the theory of Normative Power Europe in the context of the Arab World. What is the EU foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa? And how is conducted? How did the EU respond to the Arab Spring? What does the EU response tell about the EU-MENA relations? How reliable and applicable is the concept of Normative Power Europe in the context of the Middle East and North Africa?

Keywords

EU foreign policy, ENP, EMP, UfM, Arab Spring

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 11. 5. 2015

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 4. 6. 2015
• Supervisor: Mgr. Hubert Smekal, Ph.D.
• Reader: PhDr. Pavel Pšeja, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Political Science / European Politics (Eng.)