EU accession dynamics and conflict resolution. Catalysing peace or consolidating partition in Cyprus?

Abstract:

This book seeks to evaluate the part played by the EU in the resolution of the Cyprus problem that continues to see its two communities, Turkish and Greek, living in a bitterly divided land.

The work is organised over eight chapters. Following a comprehensive introduction chapter two introduces the principal parties and the third party actors in the conflict. Chapter three provides an historical background from the 1930s to 1988 and endeavours to show the main reasons for the enduring stalemate. Chapter four considers the EU accession process for Cyprus and the impact it had on the changing stance by the principal parties, particularly the Turkish Cypriot side. This is explored further in chapter five which examines the influence of the EU’s carrot and stick approach and its role as a catalyst. The failure of the ‘catalytic effect’ is examined in chapter six, which illustrates the overriding influence of internal contradictions within the EU which effectively neutered the Union in the development of a single approach to the conflict resolution. Might it have been different? Chapter seven responds to that question and tries to show what the EU framework might have offered to change the dynamics of the conflict. Chapter eight by way of conclusion seeks to assess the lessons learnt from the Cyprus situation which might be applied in the formulation and conduct of European foreign policy. It asserts that the cumbersome nature of policy evolution within the EU presents a handicap not necessarily experienced in the single state type of response, but also that the resources offered by a non-nation state such as the EU are the very resources needed to create a win-win resolution in the Cyprus conflict.

The work will interest scholars, students, researchers and policy makers engaged in European Studies, Conflict resolution, International affairs and the Cyprus question.