The Challenge of Co-ownership in the Euro-Mediterranean Space

The European Union's recent experimentation with forms of partnership and co-ownership has found its most ambitious expression in its southern neighbourhood in the form of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). Initially pioneered by Nicolas Sarkozy in an attempt to reaffirm a leading role for France within Europe, the experiment has foundered on the difficulty of creating effective governance structures in a Euro-Mediterranean space noted for geopolitical complexity, uncertain and shifting boundaries and cultural hybridity. The UfM experience illustrates how region-building can regress when its focus area becomes too extended and overambitious or inappropriate forms of institutionalisation are attempted. Yet, once offered to partners, co-ownership may be difficult to retreat from. The EU has side-stepped the UfM in its initial response to the Arab Spring, but the latter itself may bring southern demands for more effective co-ownership in future regional cooperation frameworks

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• Regime Adaptability and Political Reconfigurations following the Arab Spring

  Peter Seeberg•Middle East Critique•2015

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