The EU's democratization agenda in the Mediterranean: a critical inside-out approach

Free Us from Power: Governmentality, Counter-conduct, and Simulation in European Democracy and Reform Promotion in the Arab World

“…Resistance and counter‐conduct have not yet figured in those studies on EU/European initiatives in the Arab world which have adopted a more critical perspective (see in particular Pace et al. ; Kurki ; Teti ). Similarly, until recently, counter‐conduct only received scant attention in the broader field of governmentality studies in International Relations (see, for example, Dillon and Reid ; Bigo , ; Huysmans , ; Neumann and Sending ; Leander and van Munster ; Rosenow ).…”

“…This is a crucial step, since without an analysis of resistance, reversals, and dissent, governmentality risks appearing as a complete and all-successful form of power, and the subjects of governing technologies accordingly risk emerging as mere passive targets or docile objects of liberal modes of conduct (for a similar point, see Kurki 2011). Resistance and counter-conduct have not yet figured in those studies on EU/ European initiatives in the Arab world which have adopted a more critical perspective (see in particular Pace et al 2009;Kurki 2011;Teti 2012). Similarly, until recently, counter-conduct only received scant attention in the broader field of governmentality studies in International Relations (see, for example, Dillon and Reid 2001;Bigo 2002Bigo , 2006Huysmans 2004Huysmans , 2006Neumann and Sending 2006;Leander and van Munster 2007;Rosenow 2009).…”

“…However, it also takes the analysis one important step further, by examining how governing technologies are resisted, reversed, and countered by Arab governments enrolled into European democracy initiatives. Counter‐conduct is a relatively neglected Foucauldian concept within both those studies on EU/European initiatives in the Arab world adopting a more critical perspective (see in particular Pace, Seeberg, and Cavatorta ; Pace ; Kurki ; Teti ) and, until recently, also within the broader field of governmentality studies in International Relations (see especially Dillon and Reid ; Bigo , ; Huysmans , ; Neumann and Sending ; Leander and van Munster ). Engaging with recent work in IR on counter‐conduct, the article will thus add to the growing understanding of the concept by including more subtle and less direct forms of counter‐conduct than have hitherto been described (see, for example, Death ; Odysseos ).…”

Uncertainties at the European Union's southern borders: actors, policies, and legal frameworks

“…The tension between promoting human rights and democracy on the one hand and the EU's security concerns on the other has been particularly noted in the Union's policy towards the south (also Balfour and Missiroli 2007, Barbé and Johansson-Nogués 2008, Bicchi 2010, Biscop 2010, and Schumacher 2015. However, the myth that the Union is able, or willing, to push for democratic governance and human rights in MENA countries has largely been debunked, before and after the Arab uprisings (Gillespie and Youngs 2002, Bicchi 2006, Panebianco 2006, Pace et al 2009, Del Sarto and Schumacher 2011, Tocci and Cassarino 2011, Teti 2012. Hence, the realities of EU "border policies" towards MENA countries clearly demonstrate the limits of the concept of "normative power" (Manners 2002) and the portrayal of the EU as a benign exporter of norms.…”

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

“…This perceived distinctiveness of EuroMediterranean relations has attracted a large body of literature, particularly examining the extent to which the EU was actually acting as a normative power in the region, by diffusing shared norms of good governance, economic development and comprehensive security in a cooperative way. In contrast to expectations, the large majority of analyses actually conclude that the EU's policies in the region can hardly be characterised as a normative power approach (see Bicchi, 2006;Pace et al, 2009). In the specific sphere of political and security issues, it has been lamented that, in practice, the 'comprehensive and cooperative approach' to security (Biscop, 2003: 184-6) has been narrowed down to what has been called a '"surveillance and control" approach to security' (Pace, 2010: 432).…”