Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies

Abstract EU has developed a plethora of initiatives to deal with the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. From Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) and the so-called Barcelona Process to European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), different regional programs have been implemented in the Mediterranean region. The diversity and increasing number of countries involved have led to a feel of Mediterranean bazaar with diverging directions. Thus, one question appears to remain unanswered: In what ways have ideational foundations affected the EU initiatives in the Southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea? The research hypothesis states that differences in ideational foundations of the Mediterranean powers, namely, France, Italy and Spain, in moments of crisis have led to the multiplication of initiatives and brought in at times conflicting arrangements between the north and the south of the Mediterranean Sea. The research question was answered under the Constructivist Institutionalism using the qualitative methodology of content analysis.  Research findings reveal that when confronted with moments of self-doubt (crisis), each of the Mediterranean powers has effectuated an institutional change according to its established ideas and cognitive filters.

Abstract Despite EU’s engagement with the Mediterranean region and its active support for intra-regional integration initiatives, the data shows an impressive underperformance of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) in regional trade. Ideally, an energy rich North Africa and energy deficient neighbors in the South would unlock considerable opportunities for regional trade. Therefore, the following question looms large: How has EU’s trade policy contributed to the low market integration among the SEMCs? To answer this question, under the Market Power Europe and qualitative methodology, it is hypothesized that EU’s externalization of policies through different embedded tools such as rules of origin and outward processing schemes (OPS) has contributed to the divergence, instead of convergence, of trade among SEMCs. Research findings point to a distortion of competition between EU enterprises and African and third party enterprises in the benefit of European interests. Further, the results reveal that despite the higher complementarity between some of the SEMCs, still the predominant direction of trade is north-south, thanks to EU’s trade policy in the Mediterranean region.

Abstract The Three Seas Initiative harks back as another version of strategic integration in the Central and Eastern Europe. Based on the Neofunctionalism, a functional-based regionalism is expected to take roots in the region with the spillover effect into the political and institutional levels; therefore, the main question of the research study is: what is the effect of the EU on the regionalism in the Central and Eastern Europe? The hypothesis of this research states that the EU’s highly developed institutional arrangement has led to a specific type of regional arrangement to take place in the CEE under the Three Seas Initiative, which lacks highly supranational institutionalism, even though it maintains high functional and political dimensions. The main research question was investigated using the qualitative method, namely descriptive method within the theoretical framework of Neofunctionalism. Results indicate that while Central European regionalism is under the effect of political and functional spillover as well as spill-around in institutionalization, the divide between Central European conservative and Western liberal values has been used by Eurosceptic parties to accelerate the process.

Abstract The sun of China’s might has cast a dragon shadow over Europe. While China’s economic influence in the world has been largely discussed—either in terms of its immediate neighbors in Asia, or in its strained but complementary relations with the US—its European vision has been kept in the dark. Considering the increasing involvement of China in international relations, this paper seeks to answer the following research question: What does the Chinese engagement with Central and Eastern European Countries—such as the one under China-CEEC 17+1 initiative—entail for the European security? To answer the mentioned question, we hypothesize that the involvement of China in the region has negatively affected EU’s efforts to promote policy coherence and to form a common foreign and defense policy, and therefore, the EU has begun securitizing China to limit its influence in the region. Guided by these objectives, this study employs a qualitative research design using official EU and Chinese policy reports and statistics. Given the security dimension of China’s involvement in Europe, Buzan’s Regional Security Complex theory was adopted as the study’s conceptual framework. The research findings suggest that China (through China-CEEC cooperation) has enjoyed direct access to sensitive-security sectors, and differences over the direction of EU project have exacerbated the EU’s difficulty to mount a coherent response.