Middle East Peace Process And The European Union

What kind of a power is the EU? What are the main factors that have provided the EU with the opportunities to construct its role in international politics? Which theoretical approaches are appropriate for the conceptualization of the EU foreign policy activity? Does the EU operate as a civilian power? And what is a civilian power? What are the key indicators for the 'Civilian Power Europe'? Beste İşleyen's study offers a comprehensive overview of the academic debate on the 'Civilian Power Europe' and questions whether the concept is applicable to past and present involvement of the EU in the Middle East peace process.

EU policy-makers have in the past decade endeavoured to formulate a substantial redefinition of the organisation's international ambitions. Attempting to carve out a new role as a key foreign and security policy actor in international politics, the EU has been involved in peace negotiations across the globe. Here, Taylan Ozgur Kaya looks at how this is enacted, with particular reference to the Middle East peace process. Expanding its political, diplomatic, economic and security role in the region, the EU, whilst still being the junior partner to the US, has increasingly played a more conspicuous role in the attempts to resolve (or at least mediate) the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bearing this in mind, Kaya examines to what extent the EU manages to live up to its self-image as a key player in conflict resolution and crisis management in the region and beyond. With the financial and diplomatic future of Europe ever more in the spotlight, this book will appeal both to researchers of the Peace Process and to policy-makers.

What are the achievements, the limits and the failures of the EU's involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict? This book sets out to answer this question by analysing the development of European policy towards the conflict over the last forty years.

The European Union and the Middle East presents a concise but thorough historical analysis of the relationship between the European Union and its predecessors and the Middle East, from the early 1950s to the present day. The authors provide a survey of the evolution of the foreign policy mechanisms of the EU and an outline of the relevant aspects of modern Middle East history. They examine the relationship betwen the two regions from 1950 to the end of the Cold War, with special emphasis on the period following the 1973/4 oil crisis. They go on to look at the post-Cold War era discussing the conflict with Iraq and examining the EU's continuing involvement in the Middle East peace process.