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American Policy in the Maghreb: The Conquest of a New Region? (WP) WP 13/2006 - 24/07/2006 Yahia H. Zoubir Numerous analysts in France and in the Maghreb suggest –and worry– that the United States is showing too much interest in the Maghreb and that it wishes to displace French influence in the area. But what is really happening? What are US interests in the Maghreb? Is it true that the United States aspires to eliminate French and European influence in the region? Is it also true that the United States, through the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the Millennium Challenge Account seeks to undermine the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process)? The principal assumption in this Working Paper is that the United States is undeniably interested in the area, which has become of strategic importance since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. However, although American interest in the Maghreb is real enough, it is less ambitious and less worrying for European interests, France’s in particular, than one may be led to believe. In fact, transatlantic relations in the area are more complementary than competitive
Left to its Domestic Devices: How the Syrian Regime Boxed Itself In WP43-2005 - 3.10.2005 Bassam Haddad [1] Seasoned observers of Syria’s political economy have learned not to make much of apparent political changes there. This lesson holds today, but with a twist. Five years after the death of al-Asad senior, hopes, proclamations, and a series of promised ‘springs’ have gone unrealised. Economically, Syria’s growth has been lagging, with an increasingly narrowing window of opportunity in terms of its dwindling (known) oil reserves and the dearth of higher skills within the labour market. While stable, Syria’s political institutions are stagnant, including the slightly refurbished ruling Baath party, which continues to rule by reshuffling elites, not by restructuring the polity. Perhaps the most troubling part of Syria’s predicament is the seemingly invisible but actually growing wave of unprecedented social poverty in its recent history.
Europeanisation without Europe? A critical reflection on the Neighbourhood Policy for the Mediterranean WP23-2005 - 6.6.2005 (Translation from Spanish) Gonzalo Escribano The Neighbourhood Policy is the European Union (EU) approach towards its new geographical borders in the wake of enlargement. This new focus is global in nature and aims to integrate EU foreign policies with its various neighbours under a common and coherent strategic umbrella
The international dimension of the conflict over the Western Sahara and its repercussions for a Moroccan alternative WP16-2004 - 4.5.2004 (Translation from Spanish) Ahmed Boukhari At present the issue of the Western Sahara is one of the matters facing the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations, which must decide on the final leg of the currently blocked peace process. Observers agree that continuation of the conflict prolongs the injustice being suffered by the people of this territory, seriously undermines peace and security in the Maghreb and, consequently, has deep repercussions on the relations between the Maghreb and its European neighbours
The Algerian Armed Forces: National and International Challenges (WP) WP 8/2004 - 1/04/2004 (Translated from Spanish) Carlos Echeverría Jesús Various changes, both within and outside Algeria, suggest a future of profound transformation in the country's Armed Forces, affecting their contribution to peace-keeping missions, civil-military relations, the debate on compulsory national service, the generation change in their upper echelons and the rationalization of the debate on their role in the democratization process
Madrid and Valencia: Latin America and the Mediterranean in the Spanish Presidency. The Latin American and Mediterranean Agendas Compared (WP) WP 11/2002 - 8/11/2002 Clara Mira Salama This study compares the two major events in External Relations that took place during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union; the V Euro-Mediterranean Conference (Valencia, 22-23 April) and the II European Union (EU) - Latin-American and Caribbean (LAC) Summit of Heads of State and Government (Madrid, 17-18 May). The influence of the Spanish Presidency in the developments and outcomes of these events will be assessed.
The Role of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) in Modern Morocco WP12-2003 - 28.2.2003 (Translation from Spanish) Carlos Echeverría Our approach to the FAR will cover the conventional issues relating to all armed forces: the kind of missions of which they are capable, the units they comprise, their weaponry and its sources and their personnel. In the case of the FAR this has to be contextualised within the framework of the recent complex history of independent Morocco, a young nation set on longstanding foundations
The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2002 and the Relaunching of the Barcelona Process WP5-2002 - 8.11.2002 (Translation from Spanish) Manuel Montobbio Has the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of 2002 achieved its goal of relaunching the Barcelona Process and generating the political impetus to make its plans a reality? Is the Valencia Action Plan the road map for this journey? What has this really meant in terms of the development of the Process and the configuration of the international system in the Mediterranean?
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