Human Rights and Democracy in EU Foreign Policy


Book Description

This book investigates the disparity between rhetoric and performance in the European Union response to abuses of human rights and transgression of democracy. With the Arab spring putting the spotlight on the EU’s self-portrait as committed to promoting global human rights and democracy, this book examines the paradoxes of its international posture and the inconsistencies and double standards of its policies. With an informative and empirical approach examining EU relations since the end of the Cold War, this book seeks to uncover the reasons behind the Union’s actions and understand the foreign policy dilemmas and processes that guide its action. Including detailed analysis of Ukraine and Egypt, and the EU response to momentous changes for neighbouring nations, the author draws upon thoroughly-researched investigation into twenty years of EU foreign policy to create a framework using both EU Studies and International Relations. Providing a deeper analysis than other dominant explanations, this book presents new theories on the reasons behind the mismatch between words and deeds. An invaluable and timely volume, Human Rights and Democracy in EU Foreign Policy will be of interest to students and scholars of EU politics, International Relations and human rights policy.




Democratisation against Democracy


Book Description

This book explains why the EU is not a ‘normative actor’ in the Southern Mediterranean, and how and why EU democracy promotion fails. Drawing on a combination of discourse analysis of EU policy documents and evidence from opinion polls showing ‘what the people want’, the book shows EU policy fails because the EU promotes a conception of democracy which people do not share. Likewise, the EU’s strategies for economic development are misconceived because they do not reflect the people’s preferences for greater social justice and reducing inequalities. This double failure highlights a paradox of EU democracy promotion: while nominally emancipatory, it de facto undermines the very transitions to democracy and inclusive development it aims to pursue.




The European Union as a Diplomatic Actor


Book Description

This collection brings together leading scholars and practitioners to assess the processes, institutions and outcomes of the EU's collective diplomatic engagement in the fields of security, human rights, trade and finance and environmental politics. It analyzes successes and failures in the EU's search for global influence in the post-Lisbon era.




The Foreign Policy of the European Union


Book Description

"Explores European foreign policy and the degree of European Union success in proposing itself as a valid international actor, drawing from the expertise of scholars and practitioners in many disciplines. Addresses issues past and present, theoretical and practice-oriented, and country- and region-specific"-- Provided by publisher.




European Union Sanctions and Foreign Policy


Book Description

This book examines sanctions as a political tool of influence and evaluates the efficacy of sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) against countries from the early 1990s to present day.




The Foreign Policy of the European Union


Book Description

Keukeleire and Delreux demonstrate the scope and diversity of the European Union's foreign policy, showing that EU foreign policy is broader than the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, and that areas such as trade, development, environment and energy are inextricable elements of it. This book offers a comprehensive and critical account of the EU's key foreign relations – with its neighbourhood, with the US, China and Russia, and with emerged powers – and argues that the EU's foreign policy needs to be understood not only as a response to crises and conflicts, but also as a means of shaping international structures and influencing long-term processes. This third edition reflects recent changes and trends in EU foreign policy as well as the international context in which it operates, addressing issues such as the increasingly contested international order, the conflict in Ukraine, the migration and refugee crisis, Brexit and Covid-19. The book not only clarifies the formal procedures in EU foreign policy-making but also elucidates how it works in practice. The third edition includes new sections and boxes on 'strategic autonomy', European arms exports, the EU's external representation, the 'Brussels Effect', and decentring and gender approaches to EU foreign policy. Up to date, jargon-free and supported by its own website (eufp.eu), this systematic and innovative appraisal of this key policy area is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as practitioners.




European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World


Book Description

The second edition of European Union Foreign Policy in a Changing World provides a clear introduction to the complexities of contemporary European foreign policy and offers a fresh and distinctive perspective on the nature of the EU’s international identity. Thoroughly revised and expanded, the book explores how and why the EU tries to achieve five core foreign policy objectives: the encouragement of regional cooperation; the advancement of human rights; the promotion of democracy and good governance; the prevention of violent conflicts; and the fight against international crime, including terrorism. In pursuing these goals, the book illustrates how the EU is faced with acute policy dilemmas because the five objectives not only clash with each other, but also with additional policy priorities – such as securing energy supplies or establishing strategic partnerships with key powers. The uniqueness of the EU as a global actor is carefully assessed, and its key policies and the related dilemmas it faces compared with those of other international actors. This well-written and thoroughly researched book will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of European politics, foreign policy analysis, international relations and related disciplines.




The EU's Human Rights Dialogue with China


Book Description

This book provides the first detailed reconstruction and assessment of the EU's responses to human rights violations in China from 1995 to the present day. Using classified documents in the EU's historical archives and interviews with diplomats, officials and human rights experts in Europe, China and the United States, Kinzelbach lifts the veil of secrecy on the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue and provides a rare insight into how the European Union and China conduct quiet diplomacy on human rights.




The European Union and the Arab Spring


Book Description

The European Union and the Arab Spring: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East, edited by Joel Peters, analyzes the response of the European Union to recent uprisings in the Middle East. The past year has witnessed a wave of popular uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East which the Western media dubbed “the Arab Spring.” Demanding greater freedoms, political reform, and human rights, the protesters swept away many of the region’s authoritarian autocratic regimes. The events of the Arab Spring have been truly historic. They led to profound changes in the domestic order of Middle Eastern states and societies and impacted the international politics of the region. Additionally, these events necessitate a comprehensive reappraisal by the United States and most notably by the EU in their relations with the states and peoples of the region. This timely collection brings together nine leading authorities on European foreign policy and the Middle East, and investigates three central questions: What role did the European Union play in promoting democracy and human rights in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East? How did the EU respond to the uprisings of the Arab street? What challenges is Europe now facing in its relations with the region? Peters’ The European Union and the Arab Spring is at the forefront of scholarship on this historic socio-political shift in the Middle East and its wider implications for the West.




The European Union and Democracy Promotion


Book Description

Richard Youngs is the director of Fride, Madrid, and an associate professor at the University of Warwick. He has authored five books, including Europe㠒ole in Global Politics: A Retreat from Liberal Internationalism --Book Jacket.