The Geopolitical Impacts of the Political Transformations/ Transition in the Mena Region on the Regional and Global Balance of Powers and it’s Implications on the EU-Arab Relations
“The Arab Spring” has changed deeply the political structure of several countries of the Arab world such as Libya, Yemen and Syria, with a turmoil from a peaceful popular uprising to a bloody civil wars and a huge humanitarian crisis in a global scale. However, the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels and the huge migration crisis has shown that the impacts of current situation in the MENA region, go far beyond the domestic politics of these countries, and are affecting the power balances of the region and international security mainly in the European Union countries. This paper will assess the European responses to the Arab uprisings and, in particular, mainly after the current mass migration movement from Libya, Irak and Syria to the southern European countries of the Mediterranean due to the civil war in these country and the introduced strategy in the EU policy towards its Southern Neighborhood. In specific terms, to what extent do security and strategic considerations still constitute the basis in the EU’s “fundamental revision” of its policy in the Southern Neighborhood in a first step, and to what extent is the need to safeguard security and strategic interests undermining an authentic EU role in building deep democracy in the region, as a second step.
Hamid Belhamra . hamid.belhamra@coleurope.eu
College of Europe
Bachelor degree in Management Sciences / University of Constantine, Constantine (Algeria), 2005. Master of Arts in European Interdisciplinary Studies,Major: the EU as a global actor College of Europe / Natalie Campus, Warsaw (Poland), 2012.