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AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ’NİN GÜNEY KOMŞULUK POLİTİKASININ TUNUS’UN DEMOKRATİKLEŞME SÜRECİNE ETKİSİ

Year 2024, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 45 - 67, 02.03.2024

Abstract

Tunus, Avrupa Birliği (AB) ile birçok yönden güçlü bağları olan dünyada Müslümanların çoğunlukta olduğu az sayıdaki ülkelerden birisidir. Ülkenin uluslararası politikadaki etkisi, 2010 yılı sonlarında başlayan Arap Baharı süreciyle birlikte artmıştır. Süreç, bölgenin demokratikleşmesiyle ya da Tunus’un tam anlamıyla demokrasiye geçişiyle sonuçlanmasa da, Müslüman halkların bu konuda isteksiz olduğu yönündeki ön yargıların kırılması açısından tarihi bir dönüm noktası oldu. Geçmiş çalışmalar, büyük ölçüde bu değişimin iç dinamiklerini incelerken, bölgede dönüştürücü bir etki yaratan Yasemin (Tunus) Devrimi’nin dış boyutu halen büyük ölçüde keşfedilmemiş durumdadır. Bu anlamda, bu çalışma, AB’nin Tunus’ta 2011’den 2015’e kadar uyguladığı Güney Komşuluk Politikası’na odaklanarak, Tunus’ta sağlam bir demokrasinin geliştirilmesinde Brüksel’in rolünü sorgulamayı amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma, ayrıca, AB üyesi olmayan ülkelerde demokratik reformları ve istikrarı teşvik eden aktörleri ve iki siyasi oluşum arasında oluşan etkileşimdeki değişimi de incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.

References

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  • ● Kienle, Eberhard & Louër, Laurence (2013), “Understanding the Social and Economic Aspects of the Arab Uprisings”, Critique Internationale, Vol. 6, No: 4, pp. 11-17.
  • ● Krüger, Laura-Theresa & Ratka, Edmund (2014), “The Perception of European Policies in Tunisia after the Arab Spring”, L’Europe en Formation, No: 371, pp. 9-25.
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  • ● Manners, Ian (2002), “Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?”, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 40, No: 2, pp. 235-258.
  • ● Marfleet, Philip (2013), “Never ‘One Hand’: Egypt 2011”, in (Mike Gonzalez & Houman Barekat eds.) Arms and the People: Popular movements and the military from the Paris Commune to the Arab Spring, London: Pluto Press, pp. 149-170.
  • ● Narbone, Luigi (2020), “The EU-Tunisian relationship after 2011: Resilience, contestation and the return of the neglected socio-economic question”, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 04.12.2020, Date of Accession: 17.11.2023 from https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/69264/QM-06-20-147-EN-N.pdf.
  • ● Nunes, Isabel Ferreira (2016), “The European Union Global Strategy”, International Seminar, 1st February 2016 at National Defense Institute of Portugal, Date of Accession: 10.10.2023 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19224?seq=1.
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THE EFFECT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S SOUTHERN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY ON THE TUNISIAN DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS

Year 2024, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 45 - 67, 02.03.2024

Abstract

Tunisia is one of the unique Muslim-dominated countries in the world that holds strong ties to the European Union (EU) of all natures. The country’s imprint of international politics expanded during the Arab Spring process in late 2010. Although the process did not end up with the democratization of the region or Tunisia’s full transition into democracy, it became a historic turning point in breaking clichés about Muslim people’s reluctance to embrace democracy and liberal values. While past studies scrutinized the internal dynamics of this change, the external facet of the transformative Jasmine Revolution remains largely unexplored. In that sense, this study aims to question the role of the EU in advancing a solid democracy in Tunisia focusing on the Brussels’ Southern Neighborhood Policy in Tunis from 2011 to 2015. This study contributes to ongoing debates about the effectiveness of external actors in promoting democratic reforms and stability in non-EU countries and seeks to study the change in the interplay between the two political entities.

References

  • ● Adler-Nissen, Rebecca (2014), “Symbolic power in European diplomacy: the struggle between national foreign services and the EU’s External Action Service”, Review of International Studies, Vol. 40, No: 4, pp. 657-681.
  • ● Ansani, Andrea & Daniele, Vittorio (2012), “About a Revolution. The Economic Motivations of the Arab Spring”, International Journal of Development and Conflict, Vol. 3, No: 3, pp. 1-29.
  • ● Ayadi, Rym (2016), “EU policies in Tunisia before and after the Revolution”, European Parliament, AFET, Date of Accession: 13.10.2023 from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/578002/EXPO_STU(2016)578002_EN.pdf.
  • ● Bali, Aslı (2011), “A Turkish Model for the Arab Spring?”, Middle East Law and Governance, Vol. 3, pp. 24-42.
  • ● Bindi, Federiga (2022), The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe’s Role in the World, Brookings Institution Press.
  • ● Björklund, Andreas (2020), “The Foreign Policy Dimension of the Rule of Law Conditionality”, A Path for Europe (PfEU), 11.09.2020, Date of Accession: 12.10.2023 from https://pathforeurope.eu/the-foreign-policy-dimension-of-the-rule-of-law-conditionality/.
  • ● Britannica, “Arab Spring”, Date of Accession: 08.10.2023 from https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Spring.
  • ● Bromley, Daniel W. (2022), “The Confusions of Democracy: The Arab Spring and Beyond”, World Development, Elsevier, Vol. 158, October 2022.
  • ● Dandashly, Assem & Chira, Gabriela (2018), “European Neighbourhood Policy”, in (Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly & Achim Hurrelmann & Amy Verduneds eds.) European Union Governance and Policy Making: A Canadian Perspective (1st ed.), University of Toronto Press.
  • ● Duke, Simon (2013), “The European External Action Service and Public Diplomacy” in (Mai’a K. Davis Cross & Jan Melissen eds.) European Public Diplomacy: Soft Power at Work, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 113-136.
  • ● Esposito, John L. & Sonn, Tamara & Voll, John O. (2016), Democracy after the Arab Spring, New York: Oxford University Press.
  • ● European Commission, “Action Fiche: Support for partnership, reforms and inclusive growth (SPRING) for the southern Neighbourhood region programme”, European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), Date of Accession: 16.11.2023 from https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2017-04/c20116828_sm_regional_south_spring_2011_ad1_023279.pdf.
  • ● European Court of Auditors (2017), “Special Report: EU Assistance to Tunisia”, Date of Accession: 10.10.2023 from https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/SR17_3/SR_TUNISIA_EN.pdf.
  • ● European Parliament (2011), “The EU’s response to the ‘Arab Spring’”, 16.12.2011, Date of Accession: 15.10.2023 from https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/MEMO_11_918.
  • ● Fedai, Merve Mesçioğlu (2017), “Political Economy of Arab Uprisings”, Ortadoğu Etütleri, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 93-117.
  • ● Freedom House (2023), “Tunisia”, Date of Accession: 14.10.2023 from https://freedomhouse.org/country/tunisia/freedom-world/2023.
  • ● Futak-Campbell, Beatrix & Sauvage Nolting, Hylke de (2022), “Turkey as Normative Power: Connections with the Muslim Brotherhood during the Arab Spring”, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Vol. 19, No: 74, pp. 3-19.
  • ● Göksel, Oğuzhan (2012), “Assessing the Turkish Model as a Guide to the Emerging Democracies in the Middle East”, Ortadoğu Etütleri, Vol. 4, No: 1, pp. 99-120.
  • ● Göksel, Oğuzhan (2018), “Eurocentrism Awakened: The Arab Uprisings and the Search for a ‘Modern’ Middle East”, in (Hüseyin Işıksal & Oğuzhan Göksel eds.) Turkey’s Relations with the Middle East: Political Encounters after the Arab Spring, Cham: Springer, pp. 33-52.
  • ● Ianchovichina, Elena (2018), Eruptions of Popular Anger: The Economics of the Arab Spring and Its Aftermath, MENA Development Report, Washington, DC: World Bank, Date of Accession: 10.10.2023 from https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/251971512654536291/pdf/121942-REVISED-Eruptions-of-Popular-Anger-preliminary-rev.pdf.
  • ● Khan, Mohsin & Mezran, Karim (2015), “Tunisia: The Last Arab Spring Country”, Atlantic Council, October 2015, Date of Accession: 14.10.2023 from https://cooperative-individualism.org/khan-mohsin_tunisia-the-last-arab-spring-country-2015-oct.pdf.
  • ● Khashan, Hilal (2012), “The Arab Spring and Democratisation in the Middle East”, World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, Vol. 16, No: 4, pp. 132-147.
  • ● Kienle, Eberhard & Louër, Laurence (2013), “Understanding the Social and Economic Aspects of the Arab Uprisings”, Critique Internationale, Vol. 6, No: 4, pp. 11-17.
  • ● Krüger, Laura-Theresa & Ratka, Edmund (2014), “The Perception of European Policies in Tunisia after the Arab Spring”, L’Europe en Formation, No: 371, pp. 9-25.
  • ● Lenz, Tobias (2018), “The European Union: A Model Under Pressure”, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Date of Accession: 09.10.2023 from https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/document/61007/1/ssoar-2018-lenz-The_European_Union_A_Model.pdf.
  • ● Mako, Shamiran & Moghadam, Valentine M. (2021), “2 - Pathways to Democratization: The Arab Spring in Comparative Perspective”, in After the Arab Uprisings: Progress and Stagnation in the Middle East and North Africa, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 26-54.
  • ● Manners, Ian (2002), “Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?”, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 40, No: 2, pp. 235-258.
  • ● Marfleet, Philip (2013), “Never ‘One Hand’: Egypt 2011”, in (Mike Gonzalez & Houman Barekat eds.) Arms and the People: Popular movements and the military from the Paris Commune to the Arab Spring, London: Pluto Press, pp. 149-170.
  • ● Narbone, Luigi (2020), “The EU-Tunisian relationship after 2011: Resilience, contestation and the return of the neglected socio-economic question”, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 04.12.2020, Date of Accession: 17.11.2023 from https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/69264/QM-06-20-147-EN-N.pdf.
  • ● Nunes, Isabel Ferreira (2016), “The European Union Global Strategy”, International Seminar, 1st February 2016 at National Defense Institute of Portugal, Date of Accession: 10.10.2023 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19224?seq=1.
  • ● Örmeci, Ozan (2015), “Anti-American Reflections of the Arab Spring in Turkey”, in (Ozan Örmeci & Hüseyin Işıksal eds.) Turkish Foreign Policy in the New Millennium, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, pp. 545-558.
  • ● Pearce, Emily (2007), “Exporting Values: Conditionality, Democracy and the European Neighbourhood”, Publication No. 1447353, Master’s thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Digital Repository, Date of Accession: 12.10.2023 from https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/1v53jz09q.
  • ● Pernice, Davide & Polluveer, Kristi (2023), “Financing the Trans-European Networks”, European Parliament, 15.11.2023 from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/136/financing-the-trans-european-networks.
  • ● Powel, Brieg Tomos (2009), “A clash of norms: normative power and EU democracy promotion in Tunisia”, Democratization, Vol. 16, No: 1, pp. 193-214.
  • ● Radaelli, Claudio M. (2004), “Europeanisation: Solution or Problem?”, European Integration online Papers (EIoP), Vol. 8, No: 16.
  • ● Raube, Kolja (2012), “The European External Action Service and the European Parliament”, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Vol. 7, No: 1, pp. 65-80.
  • ● Saltnes, Johanne Døhlie (2013), “The EU’s Human Rights Policy: Unpacking the literature on the EU’s implementation of aid conditionality”, ARENA Centre for European Studies, Working Paper No. 2, March 2013, Date of Accession: 11.10.2023 from https://www.sv.uio.no/arena/english/research/publications/arena-working-papers/2013/wp2-13.pdf.
  • ● Serida L. Catalano & Paolo R. Graziano, (2016). “Europeanization as a Democratization Tool? The Case of Morocco”. Mediterranean Politics. 21(3). 364–386.
  • ● Smidi, Adam & Shahin, Saif (2017), “Social Media and Social Mobilisation in the Middle East: A Survey of Research on the Arab Spring”, India Quarterly, Vol. 73, No: 2, pp. 196-209.
  • ● Stepan, Alfred & Linz, Juan J. (2013), “Democratization Theory and the ‘Arab Spring’”, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 24, No: 2, pp. 15-30.
  • ● Tansel, Cemal Burak (2018), “Ties that Bind: Popular Uprisings and the Politics of Neoliberalism in the Middle East”, in (Hüseyin Işıksal & Oğuzhan Göksel eds.) Turkey’s Relations with the Middle East: Political Encounters after the Arab Spring, Cham: Springer, pp. 65-82.
  • ● U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (2014), Social Media and the Arab Spring: How Facebook, Twitter, and Camera Phones Changed the Egyptian Army’s Response to Revolution, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
  • ● Wolfsfeld, Gadi & Segev, Elad & Sheafer, Tamir (2013), “Social Media and the Arab Spring: Politics Comes First”, The International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 18, No: 2, pp. 115-137.
There are 43 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects European and Region Studies, International Politics, Political Science (Other)
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Ben Jennana Marwene 0000-0001-8368-5225

Ozan Örmeci 0000-0001-8850-6089

Publication Date March 2, 2024
Submission Date November 8, 2023
Acceptance Date January 22, 2024
Published in Issue Year 2024 Volume: 5 Issue: 1

Cite

Chicago Marwene, Ben Jennana, and Ozan Örmeci. “THE EFFECT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S SOUTHERN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY ON THE TUNISIAN DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS”. UPA Strategic Affairs 5, no. 1 (March 2024): 45-67.