The Al-Asads and the dog that did not bark. EU Democracy Promotion in the Middle East - The case of Syria

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: A, Sabanc? University, course: Middle East Politics and Governance, language: English, abstract: The crucial geo-strategic importance of the Mediterranean Region for the states in the European Union (EU) became once again very clear with the international developments after the 9/11 attacks and the following and ongoing so-called 'war on terror'. One could enumerate the main big security and political challenges in the Middle East with issues such as religious radicalism, continuing state conflicts, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), growing migration pressure towards European states and political systems between the poles of autocracy and instability. These characteristics, perceived as threats to Europe's own welfare and security interests, are likely ascribed to the region's distinctive persistence to the gradually accumulating 'third wave' of democratization and are linked to the lack of basic democratic structures and human rights there. However, these circumstances raise serious question for Europe's Mediterranean Policies. Since the Barcelona-Conference of 1995, the Union's institutionalized response to the destabilizing tendencies in the Middle East is the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). According to its, at least formulated, holistic approach to the existing problems in the region, the promotion of democracy is an essential part of it. This follows the wider EU Foreign policy goals, since democracy promotion is, amongst other objectives like economic interests, a centrepiece of it. Recent documents by the Commission, for instance the New Neighbourhood Policy, stressed the significant role of norms and values like democracy, the rule of law and strengthening of human rights out again. This does not necessarily imply any form of altruism, as we will see later, but is, at least to some extent on a theoretical level, simply due to a traditional understanding of foreign policy, namely 'to change what others do'. Nonetheless, it is questionable to what extent this policy is in fact influential. For many observers it is a clear-cut, that the well-known structural and practical deficits of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), but also the divergent interests between the EU and its partners in the Mediterranean impede a greater progress in the political dimension. This research paper takes up this discussion and examines the actual impact that EU democratization policy on processes towards political liberalization and system opening has, especially in the context of the EMP framework.