European Union and the Arab Spring - by Joel Peters (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Arab Spring has swept away decades old authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, and has captured the imagination of international community. The European Union and the Arab Spring: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East, edited by Joel Peters, addresses h...

Book Synopsis

The Arab Spring has swept away decades old authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, and has captured the imagination of international community. The European Union and the Arab Spring: Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East, edited by Joel Peters, addresses how the European Union has responded to the dramatic events of the Middle East over the past year and how it is meeting the calls of the peoples of the Middle East for greater freedoms, democracy, and human rights.

Review Quotes

Revealing the gaps between rhetoric and practice, this important and timely volume is a hard hitting account of the shortfalls of EU policy in human rights and democracy promotion in the Middle East. One overriding message that unites the different chapters is that a change in direction is urgently needed to address the new challenges facing the Arab world.


The contributors to this volume look at the role played by the EU in promoting democracy and human rights in the Middle East during the Arab Spring. They analyse the extent to which the EU responded to the uprisings and identify the challenges Europe now faces as the Middle East continues to evolve.


The historic events that have swept across the Arab world in 2011 compel the European Union to revise and possibly reverse its approach towards the region. The European Union and the Arab Spring provides a timely, illuminating, and refreshing analysis of the potential and the pitfalls of the EU's past, present, and prospective policies towards the southern Mediterranean.

This volume provides a crucial and very timely contribution to the debate on how the European Union can best assist in the strengthening of freedom, justice, and dignity in the Middle East and North Africa at a time when the region is undergoing significant processes of political restructuring. Comprising critical analyses of concepts, preferences, and policies that have been underwriting EU democracy promotion in the region hitherto, this volume is essential reading for academics and policy-makers alike.

About the Author

Joel Peters is associate professor of government and international affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.