Democracy Building and Democracy Erosion: Political Change North and South of the Mediterranean

Favoring transitions to democracy on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean was a key objective of the European Union at the Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Conference in 1995. But European Neighbourhood policies have failed to promote democracy. Has the erosion of democracy in the north affected the promotion of democracy in the south?

Eberhard Kienle is directeur de recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. He is the author of Ba’th versus Ba’th: The Conflict between Syria and Iraq 1968-1989 (I.B. Tauris) and editor of Politics from Above, Politics from Below: The Middle East in the Age of Economic Reform (Saqi Books).