Im Jahr 1995, beschlossen die EU-15 sowie zwölf ihrer südlichen Nachbarn in Barcelona die Euro-Mediterrane Partnerschaft, den sogenannten Barcelona Prozess. Diese Vereinbarung beinhaltet Zusammenarbeit in politischer und wirtschaftlicher sowie in kultureller Hinsicht. Ziel war die Schaffung eines gemeinsamen Raumes des Friedens, der Stabilität und des Wohlstands im gesamten Mittelmeerraum. Die vorliegende Studie diskutiert anhand des Barcelona Prozesses das Konzept der EU als normative Kraft und hinterfragt dessen Gültigkeit anhand einiger Grundannahmen der Theorie des Politischen Neorealismus. Demokratieförderung, Euro-Mediterrane Handelsbeziehungen und Migration sind Politikfelder, die im Rahmen dieser Studie näher beleuchtet werden sollen. Das Konzept der EU als normative Kraft des Guten nimmt tatsächlich eine wichtige Rolle im Rahmen des offiziellen EU-Sprachgebrauchs ein, deckt sich jedoch nicht mit der Realität der Beziehungen der EU zu ihren südlichen Nachbarn. In 1995, the EU 15 and twelve Mediterranean states concluded the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. This agreement involves cooperation in political, economic and cultural matters. It aims at creating a common area of peace, stability and prosperity. This study discusses the concept of the EU as a 'normative' actor and questions its validity. In doing so, it relies on a neo-realist analysis. Democracy promotion, Euro-Mediterranean trade relations and migration are policy areas which, each for its own reasons, deserve special attention in the framework of the Barcelona process. This paper reviews the reality of Euro-Mediterranean relations and compares them with official EU documentation to demonstrate that the concept of the EU as a benign 'normative' actor suffers from severe shortcomings.

Chapter IV. Democracy Promotion in the Mediterranean ‘The EU now has a comprehensive strategy for the promotion of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance” in place covering the entire globe. […] The EU is making an explicit effort to project its own identity of a democratic polity into its relations with third countries’ It can be argued that Europe considers liberal democracies as the one and only legitimate political regime. According to Schmitter and Brouwer, Europe is convinced that its positive post-war experience of democracy in pluralist societies is a ‘model’ for the rest of the world.52 With respect to its Mediterranean neighbours, with very few exceptions, the EU is surrounded by authoritarian regimes. The EMP could therefore be seen as the instrument par excellence by which to export the European model of democracy. This chapter introduces the concept of democracy promotion as a means of European foreign policy and examines how it is applied within the EMP framework. In its rhetoric, the EU links the donation of aid and development assistance, amongst other things, to democracy. I will introduce the concept of ‘conditionality’ describing its different characteristics and whether and how it is applied in EFP. This chapter does not aim to evaluate the success achieved in the field of European democracy promotion. Rather, it asks whether it is indeed a centrepiece of the EU’s Middle East and North African relations. The fundamentally conflicting approaches of neo-realism and social constructivism were deliberately presented in the previous chapters to test which approach can best explain European foreign policy in this realm.

• Barcelona Prozess

• Politischer Neorealismus

• Internationale Beziehungen

• Europäische Außenpolitik

• Normative Power

Markus Hahn, geboren 1980, Studium der Rechtswissenschaften und der Europäischen und Internationalen Politik an den Universitäten Passau, Genf und Edinburgh, Abschluss 2006 als Diplom-Jurist an der Universität Passau und 2007 als Master of Science in International and European Politics an der Universität Edinburgh, derzeit beim Landgericht Duisburg beschäftigt als Rechtsreferendar.