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TunisiaEuroMeSCo new paper: “On the Insufficiencies and Dark Side of the Principle of Differentiated Bilateralism”
The EuroMeSCo network of think tanks has released a new paper entitled “On the Insufficiencies and Dark Side of the Principle of Differentiated Bilateralism”. This paper is part of its activities of the project co-funded by the European Union and the European Institute of the Mediterranean called “Euro-Mediterranean Political Research and Dialogue for Inclusive Policymaking Processes and Dissemination through Network Participation”.
The essay is a critical assessment of the current state of the ENP through the prism of the principle of differentiated bilateralism, beyond – not necessarily departing from – the debate between normative and realist approaches of EU foreign policy (Cavatorta & Rivetti, 2014) and in the belief that realism and idealism could be complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
After an introduction on the evolution and debates hinging on the concept at issue, the text will first focus on a macro level, in reference to the phases before negotiation and implementation, in which the principle of differentiation is insufficiently and imperfectly applied, in a way that mirrors a Eurocentric approach that epitomises the structural asymmetries between the EU and its southern partners.
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