Books by Raffaella A. Del Sarto
Oxford University Press, 2021
Borderlands: Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East proposes a profound rethink of the complex ... more Borderlands: Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East proposes a profound rethink of the complex relationship between Europe-defined here as the European Union and its members-and the states of the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Europe's 'southern neighbours'. These relations are examined through a borderlands prism that conceives of this interaction as of one between an empire of sorts, which seeks to export its order beyond the border, and the empire's southern borderlands. Focusing on trade relations on the one hand, and the cooperation on migration, borders, and security on the other, the book revisits the historical origins and modalities of Europe's selective rule transfer to MENA states, the interests underwriting these policies, and the complex dynamics marking the interaction between the two sides over a twenty-year period (1995-2015). It shows that within a system of structurally asymmetric economic relations from which Europe and MENA elites benefit the most, single MENA governments have been co-opted into the management of border and migration control where they act as Europe's gatekeepers. Combined with specific policy choices of MENA governments, Europe's selective expansion of its rules, practices, and disaggregated borders have in fact contributed to rising socio-economic inequalities and the strengthening of authoritarian rule in the 'southern neighbourhood', with Europe tacitly tolerating serious violations of the rights of refugees and migrants at its fringes. Challenging the self-proclaimed benevolent nature of European policies and the notion of 'Fortress Europe' alike, the findings of this study contribute to broader debates on power, dependence, and interdependence in the discipline of International Relations.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Michigan University Press, 2020
"Resisting Europe" conceptualizes the foreign policies of Europe-defined as the European Union an... more "Resisting Europe" conceptualizes the foreign policies of Europe-defined as the European Union and its member states-toward the states in its immediate southern "neighborhood" as semi-imperial attempts to turn these states into Europe's southern buffer zone, or borderlands. In these hybrid spaces, different types of rules and practices coexist and overlap, and negotiations over meaning and implementation take place. This book examines the diverse modalities by which states in the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa (MENA) reject, resist, challenge, modify, or entirely change European policies and preferences and provides rich empirical evidence of these contestation practices in the fields of migration and border control, banking and finance, democracy promotion and telecommunications. It addresses the complex question of when and how MENA states capitalize on their leverage and interdependence in their relationships with Europe and contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of Europe-Middle East relations, while engaging with broader debates on power and interdependence, order and contestation in international relations. While a contribution on the practices of resistance and contestation of MENA states vis-à-vis European policies and preferences in this geopolitically significant region was overdue, this volume leads the way for subsequent studies that seek to overcome the constraints of exceptionalism so characteristic of research of the Middle East, Europe/ the European Union, and certainly of their relationship.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The book examines the creation of Israel’s neo-revisionist consensus about security threats and r... more The book examines the creation of Israel’s neo-revisionist consensus about security threats and regional order, which took hold of Israeli politics and society after 2000 and persists today. The failed Oslo peace process and the trauma of the Second Palestinian Intifada triggered this shift to the right; conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah and the inflammatory rhetoric of Iranian President Ahmadinejad additionally contributed to the creation of a general sense of being under siege. While Israel faces real security threats, Israeli governments have engaged in the politics of insecurity, promoting and amplifying a sense of besiegement. Lively political debate has been replaced by a general acceptance of the no-compromise approach to security and the Palestinians. The neo-revisionist right, represented by Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, has turned Israel away from the peace process and pushes maximalist territorial ambitions. But they have failed to offer a vision for an end to conflict, and there has been little debate about whether or not the hardline policies toward the region are counterproductive. The book explains this disappearance of dissent and examines the costs of Israel’s policies. It concludes that Israel’s feeling of being under siege has become entrenched, a two-state solution with the Palestinians is highly unlikely for the foreseeable future, and Israel’s international isolation is likely to increase.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This book investigates relations between Israel, the Palestinian territories and the European Uni... more This book investigates relations between Israel, the Palestinian territories and the European Union by considering them as interlinked entities, with relations between any two of the three parties affecting the other side. The contributors to this edited volume explore different aspects of Israeli-Palestinian-European Union interconnectedness.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Recent efforts by the United States and its allies to promote democracy, security, and stability ... more Recent efforts by the United States and its allies to promote democracy, security, and stability in the Middle East owe much to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) – also known as the Barcelona Process – an important region-building plan in the Mediterranean region since 1995. The Convergence of Civilizations represents the output of an innovative and much needed collaborative project focused on the EMP. Editors Emanuel Adler, Beverly Crawford, Federica Bicchi, and Rafaella A. Del Sarto have set out to show that regional security and stability may be achieved through a cultural approach based on the concept of regional identity construction, and aim to take stock of the EMP in relation to this goal.
The contributors to this collection focus on the obstacles Mediterranean region construction faces due to post 9/11 regional and global events, the difficulties of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tensions between the EU and the US over Iraq, and the expected consequences of EU enlargement. They also seek to bring the EMP and region-making practices to the attention of American scholars in order to promote a more fertile academic exchange.
Ultimately, the contributors demonstrate that the EMP and related region-making practices, while failing so far to promote the development of a Mediterranean regional identity and to achieve regional stability, suggest nonetheless a viable model for regional partnership and cooperation, and thus, for preventing a 'clash of civilizations' in the long haul.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Palgrave Macmillan, 2006
The book argues that internal disputes over national identity limit the ability of states to part... more The book argues that internal disputes over national identity limit the ability of states to participate in regional forums. This is a close look at problems faced in negotiating the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) as a regional security project, with particular attention to case studies of Israel, Egypt and Morocco.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Papers by Raffaella A. Del Sarto
The Middle East’s Fragile Reset: Actors, Battlegrounds, and (Dis)Order, ed. Galip Dalay and Tarik M. Yousef, Middle East Council of Foreign Affairs, 2023
Much has been written about the regional order in the Middle East in recent years. Ever since the... more Much has been written about the regional order in the Middle East in recent years. Ever since the Arab uprisings started in 2010–2011, debates on whether regional politics changed fundamentally, and perhaps even irreversibly, have abounded. Certainly, the region has witnessed significant developments since 2011. Revolutions have ousted long-term autocrats, civil wars involving multiple armed groups erupted, and the antagonism between Saudi Arabia and Iran reverberated throughout the region. Several regional actors, most notably Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, upped their game in Middle Eastern politics, as did Russia and China, while the United Sates (U.S.) somewhat retreated from the region. Amid this turmoil, surviving regimes, increasingly obsessed with staying in power, manipulated sectarian divides and strengthened the authoritarian hold over their citizens. But how radical and qualitatively new are these developments? Are we witnessing the emergence of a fundamentally new regional order in the Middle East? And is the latest military confrontation between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, that started after Hamas overran a swath of southern
Israel on October 7, killing roughly 1,400 people and taking over 200 hostages, likely to be a turning point in regional politics?
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Geopolitics, 2024
This article addresses the shifting patterns of regionalism and alliance formation in the Middle ... more This article addresses the shifting patterns of regionalism and alliance formation in the Middle East in the decade following the 2011 Arab uprisings. It seeks to explain why regional organizations, most notably the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, failed to advance any durable regional cooperation, in spite of an initial period of bold activism. Second, the article seeks to shed light on why government-driven, informal and instable regional alignments that also include non-Arab parties and nonstate actors came to prevail instead. Our approach draws on Stephen Walt's concept of the balance of threats; we posit however that this concept needs to integrate a liberal-constructivist perspective to assess both the nature of threats and the significance of domestic factors. While we consider the Arab uprisings a potential turning point, our explanation of the patterns of cooperation and conflict in the Middle East after the uprisings points to regime (in)security and shifting threat perceptions as key factors. They explain the side-lining of established regional organizations and the priority given to alternative and volatile forms of regional cooperation, that is, the prevalence of "liquid alliances."
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
European Security, Dec 1, 2006
... 1996); Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde (eds.), Security: A New Framework for Analysi... more ... 1996); Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde (eds.), Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998 ... Ends, Means, and Strategies', EuroMeSCo Report, with contributions of Raffaella A. Del Sarto (lead author), Ahmed Driss, Erwan Lannon and ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Mediterranean Politics, Nov 1, 2009
... Jewish state'. Showing an unexpected sense of humour, Palestinian President Mahmoud ... more ... Jewish state'. Showing an unexpected sense of humour, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas replied that it was not his task to describe the state of Israel which, for his part, could also name itself the 'Hebrew Socialist Republic'. ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Modern Italy, May 1, 2008
Focusing on Italy's Middle East policies under the second Berlusconi (2001–2006) and the seco... more Focusing on Italy's Middle East policies under the second Berlusconi (2001–2006) and the second Prodi (2006–2008) governments, this article assesses the manner and extent to which the observed foreign policy shifts between the two governments can be explained in terms of the rebalancing between a ‘Europeanist’ and a transatlantic orientation. Arguing that Rome's policy towards the Middle East hinges less on Italy's specific interests and objectives in the region and more on whether the preference of the government in power is to foster closer ties to the United States or concentrate on the European Union, the analysis highlights how these swings of the pendulum along the EU–US axis are inextricably linked to a number of underlying structural weaknesses of Rome's foreign policy. In particular, the oscillations can be explained by the prevalence of short-term political (and domestic) considerations and the absence of long-term, substantive political strategies, or, in short, by the phenomenon of ‘politics without policy’ that often characterises Italy's foreign policy.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2006
... on social and cultural affairs was intended to pro-mote the understanding between the peoples... more ... on social and cultural affairs was intended to pro-mote the understanding between the peoples of the Euro-Mediterranean area based on ... sustainable development, job creation, the reduction of migratory pressures, and the common fight against illegal immigration, racism, and ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
I.B.Tauris eBooks, 2010
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
International Affairs, May 1, 2021
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Mediterranean Politics, Mar 1, 2003
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Mediterranean Politics, Mar 1, 2007
... Israel particularly appreciated the EU's departure from the regional logic of the Euro-M... more ... Israel particularly appreciated the EU's departure from the regional logic of the Euro-Mediterranean ... among those interests, as various ENP documents as well the European Security Strategy of December 2003 (Council, 2003b8. Council of the European Union (2003b) A ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2006
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2006
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2006
In its original design, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership that was launched at the Barcelona Con... more In its original design, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership that was launched at the Barcelona Conference in November 1995 was an unusual, and quite ambitious, policy initiative. Initially comprising the then-15 EU member states and 12 partners from the southern Mediterranean,1 the declared aim of the EMP was to turn the Mediterranean into an area of peace, stability, and prosperity (Barcelona Declaration 1995). With it, the main concern of the EMP was security.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Books by Raffaella A. Del Sarto
The contributors to this collection focus on the obstacles Mediterranean region construction faces due to post 9/11 regional and global events, the difficulties of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tensions between the EU and the US over Iraq, and the expected consequences of EU enlargement. They also seek to bring the EMP and region-making practices to the attention of American scholars in order to promote a more fertile academic exchange.
Ultimately, the contributors demonstrate that the EMP and related region-making practices, while failing so far to promote the development of a Mediterranean regional identity and to achieve regional stability, suggest nonetheless a viable model for regional partnership and cooperation, and thus, for preventing a 'clash of civilizations' in the long haul.
Papers by Raffaella A. Del Sarto
Israel on October 7, killing roughly 1,400 people and taking over 200 hostages, likely to be a turning point in regional politics?
The contributors to this collection focus on the obstacles Mediterranean region construction faces due to post 9/11 regional and global events, the difficulties of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tensions between the EU and the US over Iraq, and the expected consequences of EU enlargement. They also seek to bring the EMP and region-making practices to the attention of American scholars in order to promote a more fertile academic exchange.
Ultimately, the contributors demonstrate that the EMP and related region-making practices, while failing so far to promote the development of a Mediterranean regional identity and to achieve regional stability, suggest nonetheless a viable model for regional partnership and cooperation, and thus, for preventing a 'clash of civilizations' in the long haul.
Israel on October 7, killing roughly 1,400 people and taking over 200 hostages, likely to be a turning point in regional politics?