Regime Adaptability and Political Reconfigurations following the Arab Spring: New Challenges for EU Foreign Policies toward the Mediterranean

Abstract

The article discusses the post-Arab Spring scenario in the MENA region and the EU policies in relation to the changing realities. I contend that the authoritarian states have demonstrated abilities to adapt to the new challenges. Through political reconfigurations the Arab states are able to maintain what some scholars have called a ‘recombinant authoritarian’ rule. The article analyzes how, faced with changes following the revolts in 2011 in the Maghreb and the Mashreq, the EU attempted a revitalization of former normative approaches but has not been able to develop strategies to deal with the situation. The article concludes that an EU consensus in connection with the recent significant developments in the Arab Mediterranean states is only partly a reality and that to some degree this can be explained by the constant changes in the situation of several MENA states, all of which effectively seem to prevent the EU from adopting long-term strategies vis-à-vis the Middle East.