The New Face of EU Security Policies? Analysing the Normative Patterns of EU Non-Proliferation Policies in the Southern Mediterranean

Abstract:

In recent years, the European Union has substantially intensified its non-proliferation policies in the southern Mediterranean. Although the analysis of these policies shows that the Union comes close to what the literature suggests is an ideal type normative power, this interpretation in itself is at odds with other security policies in the southern Mediterranean and with non-proliferation policies outside the region, most notably in Iran. Therefore, this article examines the causes and implications of this inconsistency, and argues that it can be problematic to characterize the EU as a normative power in a geographically and thematically limited issue area.