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International Politics
This critical analysis explores the contradictions between the European Union's (EU) democracy promotion rhetoric and the underlying motivations behind these efforts, specifically in the context of the 2006 Palestinian elections. Contrary to the traditional perception that EU democracy promotion aims to establish and strengthen democratic institutions and practices, this review argues that the primary goal is often to enforce stability under the expansive settler-colonial structure. The Palestinian elections of 2006 serve as a pertinent case study to illustrate this paradox. The EU's response to the victory of Hamas was marked by inconsistencies and contradictions, revealing the tension between its democracy promotion rhetoric and the prioritization of a kind of stability based on Israeli terms.
MSc INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND POLICY ERASMUS UNIVERSITY,
DILEMMAS OF DEMOCRACY PROMOTION UNDER OCCUPATION THE DIVERGENT ROLES OF THREE EUROPEAN UNION ACTOR-GROUPS SUPPORTING "DEMOCRACY" IN PALESTINE2013 •
The European Union went through significant changes with regard to their external image since 2010. Quickly after their establishment the EEAS and EU delegations found themselves the task to revive the EU's democracy promotion strategy for the MENA region. While popular protests in the neighbourhood during the past three years questioned the aims of the EU in this region, Palestinians have showed their dissatisfaction with the regimes controlling their lives for decades. The wish of millions of Palestinians for equal representation and safety has not been fulfilled, leading to widespread dissatisfaction with current government structures and growing frustrations with the expanding controls of the Israeli occupation. But the list of objectives shared by the EU for Palestine makes it clear that democracy as a policy goal will have to compete with aims of security, stability and the status quo. To understand how this competition plays out the work from Grimm and Leininger (2012) is used to trace the dilemmas the EU faces in Palestine. Following a thorough investigation of local challenges and EU activities, behaviour of ignoring, sequencing and prioritizing these dilemmas can be noticed within the EU. The theory of conceptual politics as used by Kurki and Hobson shows how definitions of contested concepts matter and how the conceptualization impacts material relations. Together with an analysis of the institutional environment, these two facets are explored to understand the different types of behaviour among the main EU actors. This application offers insights in the possibilities of the EU delegation, the European Parliament and the EEAS and HR to practice their own interpretation of the general EU objective of a "democratic Palestinian state". This study enables to capture the innovation in institutions and policies that is taking place within the EU, while at the same time structural problems are noted that continue to restrain the EU from making democracy a true objective in their policies towards Palestine.
In this article we analyze the EU’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, showing that there is a wide gap between its normative opposition to the occupation, Israel’s expanding settlement project, and the EU’s foreign trade policy. Our argument is not only that there is no evidence of norm diffusion from the EU to Israel, but that within the EU itself there is no diffusion from the normative political stance to the EU’s economic interests. The Israeli case suggests that the pro-democracy activists of Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria should be aware that the trade interests of the EU Member States will ultimately trump the Union’s political declarations.
Middle East Critique
The Limits of Securitized Peace: The EU’s Sponsorship of Palestinian Authoritarianism2018 •
Since the Oslo Accords came into force in 1993, the European Union (EU) and its individual member-states have invested billions of Euros, with a view to establishing the basis for an independent and sovereign Palestinian state. As Israel’s colonization of the Palestinian West Bank has progressed, Palestinian statehood has become little more than a myth. As the state-building process has atrophied, securitization has found a renewed impetus, being elevated at the expense of initiatives that seek to promote democratization. This article argues that, far from being a neutral process grounded within the building of capacities, Security Sector Reform (SSR) has strengthened the foundations of Palestinian authoritarianism. In focusing upon the development of the EU’s police mission in the West Bank (EUPOL COPPS), this article argues that EU-sponsored ‘reform’ has contributed directly to the ‘professionalization’ of Palestinian authoritarianism. The article therefore suggests that the EU consistently has failed to acknowledge the political implications that extend from its technical mandate and interventions. The EU has become, to the extent that its interventions extend Israel’s colonial project, part of the problem. In concluding, the article offers an assessment of the decade-long EUPOL COPPS (The European Union Police Mission for the Palestinian Territories) commitment, with a view to developing key lessons and recommendations that can inform future EU interventions.
The International Spectator
Unintended Consequences of State-building Projects in Contested States: The EU in Palestine2019 •
Security Dialogues
Clashing the EU security logics: complexity of EU - Hamas relations2015 •
This article investigates the reasons behind the EU reservations and boycott towards the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. It examines how the EU ‘talked security’, in terms of framing the overall Israeli-Palestinian conflict (IPC). In this context, of particular interest is the reason behind the, EU decision to label Hamas as a terrorist organization (analysed in relation to the specific security construct). With regards to the EU multilateral dimension in the IPC, it is important to find out how the EU has worked (or has been forced/pushed by external actors) to form a security governance, as well as a multilateral strategy vis-à-vis Hamas, and what references have been made towards the multilateralism. Furthermore, this article explores the policies that have been created in relation to the EU securitization of the conflict, as well as the impact it had on the EU and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The aim of this paper is to shed light on the debate about the European Union (EU)’s role as a state-builder in the case of the Palestinian Territory and in particular the extent to which EU policies and programmes in the area have been able to assist the process of state-building in Palestine in the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords. By analysing the liberal peace and liberal democracy debate on the one hand and the EU’s state-building and conflict resolution policies on the other hand, the paper aims to evaluate the distinctive role of the EU as a state-builder in the case of the Palestinian Territory. Moreover, by focusing on state-building initiatives such as police and security reform, institution-building, judicial reform, as well as support for the health and education sectors, the paper aims to answer the following questions: why have the EU’s state-building strategies employed after the Oslo Accords in Palestine had so little impact? Can this tell us anything that we do not know about the high politics of the conflict? Does this represent a failure of the whole liberal peace-building model (or not)?
CEPS Working Documents, No. 217 (January 2005), ISBN 92-9079-545-X
The Widening Gap between Rhetoric and Reality in EU Policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict2005 •
Over the decades, the EU’s declaratory diplomacy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict crystallised in its support for a two-state solution and the respect for human rights and international law. Yet a closer look at the EU’s relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority highlights an increasing divergence between rhetorical goals and conduct in practice. This working paper shows how in the Middle East, the nature of the EU’s credibility problem stems neither from its inadequate instruments nor from its internal divisions. It rather derives from the manner in which the Union has chosen to deploy the instruments at its disposal. The paper then turns to possible ways ahead to achieve greater consistency and credibility in the EU’s role in the region.
European Foreign Affairs Review
Interrogating the European Union’s Democracy Promotion Agenda: Discursive Configurations of ‘Democracy’ from the Middle East2010 •
Textile History
The Roots of Asian Weaving: The He Haiyan Collection of Textiles and Looms from Southwest China2018 •
MNHMH / MNEME. Past and Memory in the Aegean Bronze Age Proceedings of the 17th International Aegean Conference, University of Udine, Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Department of Humanities, 17-21 April 2018 (Aegaeum 43). Liège: 413-422.
The Memory Machine: How 12th BCE century Iconography Created Memories of the Philistines (and other Sea Peoples). Corrected proofs.2019 •
https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/ottomantours
Touring Ottoman Lands: Murray's Routes for Southwest Asia, 1850-19002024 •
Mapeando o encarceramento no Brasil
Sistema penitenciário em Alagoas: o encarceramento em massa no contexto de uma cultura de violência2017 •
Comparativ
„The Obsession with Work.": Gefangenenarbeit und soziale Kontrolle in den USA im 19. Jahrhundert2003 •
2024 •
La pintura valenciana del Renacimiento en tiempos convulsos: el impacto de las Germanías
Los pintores en la Germania de Valencia2021 •
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Candida parapsilosis Resistance to Fluconazole: Molecular Mechanisms and <i>In Vivo</i> Impact in Infected Galleria mellonella Larvae2015 •
Idea La Mancha Revista De Educacion De Castilla La Mancha
La Conciliación y La Constancia, dos ejemplos de prensa magisterial toledana en el siglo XIX2007 •
Applied Catalysis A: General
Ammoxidation of propane to acrylonitrile over silica-supported Fe-Bi nanocatalysts2015 •
Neuroscience Letters
Involvement of NO in the convulsive behavior and oxidative damage induced by the intrastriatal injection of methylmalonate2005 •
Eurasian journal of biological and chemical sciences
Morphological, anatomical and ecological studies on Orchis simia (Orchidaceae) taxon of Eskişehir, Turkey2020 •
2014 •
Reports on Mathematical Physics
On the completeness of the coherent states1971 •