Europe and the Middle East

At a time when momentous changes are taking place in the Middle East, this volume provides a timely and critical assessment of the European Union (EU) foreign policy towards the region. The book collects revised and updated versions of the papers presented at the third Academic Forum on European Security, which took place at the Institute for European Studies (IHEE) in Strasbourg on March 30-31, 2010. The subtitle «the hour of the EU» was chosen to emphasize the moment of opportunity for the EU to actively influence a peaceful resolution of the major crises affecting the Middle East. Accordingly, contributions to this volume show the potential and the limits of the EU's normative and soft-power-based diplomatic toolbox in trasforming its neighbourhood, focusing on four macro-areas: the Arab-Israeli conflict, the rise of Iran as a regional (and perhaps nuclear) power, the EU's engagement in democracy promotion and EU-Turkey relations. Overall, this book aims at providing the reader willing to learn more about EU foreign policy's achievements and weaknesses with a close-up on those four critical areas.

Autorentext

Birte Wassenberg (Dr. hab.) is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at the Institute for European Studies (IHEE) of the University of Strasbourg and member of the Research Institute for History FARE. Her research fields are: border regions, Euro-scepticism and the history of the Council of Europe. She has recently (co)-edited a series of five volumes on «Living and researching cross-border cooperation in Europe» (Stuttgart, 2009-2011) and a book intitled « Contre l Europe ? » (Stuttgart, 2010). Giovanni Faleg is PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science and visiting researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels. He holds a bachelor s degree from the University of Florence and a Master of Research from the University of Strasbourg. Giovanni was Carlo Maria Santoro Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Bologna Center (2008-2009). He co-edited the book « L OTAN et l Europe » (P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2010) with B. Wassenberg and M. Mlodecki.

Inhalt

Contents: Giovanni Faleg: Introduction Rory Miller: The Business of Politics, the Politics of Business. Turning EU Economic Power into Political Influence in the Middle East Conflict Amnon Aran: Europe and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Towards a New Diplomatic Engagement? Amir M. Kamel: Iran s Pragmatic «Nuclear» Approach and the EU Antonio Dai Pra: A New EU-Iranian Gas Partnership to Enhance European Energy Security? Silvia Colombo/Benedetta Voltolini: EU Democracy Promotion and Electoral Politics Between «Milieu Goals» and «Possession Goals». The Cases of Lebanon and Morocco Alessandro Marrone: Obama and Afghanistan. A Reality Check for European Expectations Giovanni Faleg: «A Bridge over Troubled Waters». Turkey s Middle Eastern Policy and the West Sebastiano Sali: The Turkish-Israeli Crisis. A Serious Gamble? Birte Wassenberg: Conclusion Martin W. M odecki/Giovanni Faleg: Postface and Acknowledgments.