Legal Mobilisation in EU Foreign Policy vis-à-vis Occupation
A Comparison of Israel/Palestine and Morocco/Western Sahara
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19233239 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benedetta Voltolini (0000-0002-4212-5528, King's College London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-20 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The International Spectator (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0393-2729 • E-ISSN: 1751-9721 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03932729.2026.2634014 |
| OpenAlex | W7134282977 |
| Language | FR |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
How does the use of law by non-state actors (NSAs) influence European Union (EU) foreign policy? A comparative analysis of the cases of Israel/Palestine and Morocco/Western Sahara demonstrates that legal mobilisation by NSAs has had divergent impacts on EU foreign policy. On the one hand, legal mobilisation led to long-term effects in the case of EU foreign policy towards Israel/Palestine: through lobbying based on legal framing, NSAs contributed to the reframing of EU-Israel relations, leading to the exclusion of the occupied Palestinian territories from the scope of EU-Israel agreements. On the other hand, litigation in the case of Morocco/Western Sahara had a short-term impact by annulling EU-Morocco agreements due to their extension to Western Sahara without the consent of the Sahrawi people. However, this did not result in a change in the overall understanding of EU-Morocco relations, as reflected in renewed attempts to include Western Sahara under EU-Morocco agreements and in the increasing number of member states recognising Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for – and in some cases sovereignty over – Western Sahara as the most viable option. This comparison shows that mobilising law can be a powerful tool for NSAs to influence EU foreign policy, but this requires skilful entrepreneurs able to apply legal principles to concrete facts, as well as a favourable context, to ensure that when legal inconsistencies are highlighted, the EU is capable of engaging in a reframing process to correct them
Diplomacy · European union · Foreign policy · International relations · Legislation · African Studies and Geopolitics · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Global Political and Social Dynamics
Organizational Learning
Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research
The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements
Strategic Litigation in EU Law
Balancing Rights, Interests and Values
The secret life of non-recognition
Environmental Legal Mobilization
Ontological crises, framing and the (de)politicisation of EU foreign policy
The status of Western Sahara as occupied territory under international humanitarian law and the exploitation of natural resources
War under transnational surveillance
Information exchanges, diplomatic networks and the construction of European knowledge in European Union foreign policy
Law as weapon of the weak? A comparative analysis of legal mobilization by Roma and women's groups at the European level
Policy Framing in the European Union
Lobbying versus litigation
Mobilizing European law
Normative Power Europe
Explaining interest group litigation in Europe
Interest Group Success in the European Union
European Union responses to conflict in the western Mediterranean
Legal framing and the EU’s external relations
Non-state actors and framing processes in EU foreign policy
The Role of Law in EU Foreign Policy‐making
Measuring Interest Group Influence in the EU
Voice and Access
The International Norm–Practice Relationship, Contested States, and the EU’s Territorial (Un)Differentiation toward Palestine and Western Sahara
Europe, the Green Line and the Issue of the Israeli-Palestinian Border
Framing Processes and Social Movements
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |