Preoccupied with the Market: The EU as a Promoter of ‘Shallow’ Democracy in the Mediterranean

Abstract

This article investigates the substance of the European Union (EU)'s democracy promotion towards its southern neighbours within the framework of the Euro- Mediterranean Partnership (EMP)/the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Taking the distinction between core elements of democracy and supporting external conditions as a point of departure, this article concentrates on the latter and analyses the EU's view on the relation between the state, the market, and the civil society. This article finds that the main objective of the EU's policy towards its southern Mediterranean neighbours is economic liberalization and that the promotion of the civil society, the functioning of the state, and the core elements of democracy are oriented to the promotion of a market-based economy. Moreover, the EU's preoccupation with the market has affected the establishment of democracies in the southern Mediterranean region.