Euro-Mediterranean Relations after the Arab Spring. Persistence in Times of Change

The ‘Arab Spring’ triggered paradigmatic shifts but, despite these changes, much in the Euro-Mediterranean region remains the same. Utilising ‘Logics of Action’, an innovative theoretical framework designed to capture the complexity of political interaction in one of the fastest changing regions in the world, this book discusses developments in the region before and after the Arab Spring that can be characterised by a continuation of the norm.

Expert contributors identify patterns of interaction between governmental institutions, economic entrepreneurs, religious groups and other diverse actors that withstood these historical changes and explore why these relationships have proved so robust. Connecting a sample of case studies on changing and persistent ‘Logics of Action’ within the Euro-Mediterranean space this book provides a contribution to our understanding of political interaction between North Africa, the Middle East and the European Union. Offering a completely new perspective on the events of the ‘Arab Spring’ it identifies something that seems paradoxical at first sight; persistence in times of radical change.

Contents:
Part I The EU’s Mediterranean Policy after the ‘Arab Spring’:
+ Change to stay the same: the European Union and the logics of institutional reform in Morocco, Eva-Maria Maggi
+ Facing a dilemma: the EU’s promotion of gender-democracy after the ‘Arab Spring’, Annette Jünemann
+ Learning to cope: the development of European immigration policies concerning the Mediterranean caught between national and supra-national narratives, Peter Seeberg
+ Free trade, development and authoritarianism in a rentier economy: intentions and reality of the EU’s logic of action in Algeria, Jakob Horst

Part II Persistence and Change in Selected Countries:
+ A revolution in the logics of action? Renegotiating the authoritarian social contract in Egypt, Cilja Harders
+ Blocked middle classes as an engine of change in the Arab world?, Rachid Ouaissa
+ Exploring the logics of moderate Islamists’ political actions in the light of the ‘Arab Spring’ - the cases of Jordan and Morocco, Kerstin Fritzsche and Ivesa Lübben
+ On logics of the Egyptian transformation process: continuity and change, Ingrid El Masry

Part III Transnational Actors and their Logics of Action:
+ Welcome to the desert: regional integration and identity change through an EU-MENA energy partnership?, Delf Rothe
+ Mediterranean players par excellence? Sketching foreign-educated Syrians’ logics of action, Tina Zintl