Strategic Patience and EU Reform-Support. EU and the ‘Arab Spring’: The State of Play after Three Years

Abstract:

The post 'Arab Spring' scenario in the Middle East has produced a more differentiated, complex and unstable Middle Eastern reality, where security problems, lack of social cohesion and a deteriorating economic situation is challenging the cooperation between the EU and its southern Mediterranean partners. A focus on the fall of (some of) the authoritarian regimes in the Middle East region and the possible local or regional consequences of the uprisings has led recent research to neglect strategic issues of importance for the European-Middle Eastern relations. By examining the development of political transition processes in relation to EU support, financial problems in some of the Middle Eastern states and how this affects the possibilities and perspectives for regional cooperation, this article sheds new light on how the EU institutions have worked in relation to strategic challenges in the Middle East following the changes over the last three years in the European neighbourhood. The article concludes by pointing at a disproportionate relation between the EU's ambitions and its political and institutional capabilities, arguing that strategic patience indeed seems to be necessary - also regarding EU's own development.