A quarter century after the Barcelona Process: UfM in Mediterranean politics

Abstract

The Mediterranean Basin has been homeland for various societies throughout history since it stands at the connection point of the Old World. Within the modern political structure, the Basin can be divided into the North that represents the European Union and its members and the South consist of Arab countries and Israel with not only their different social structures, but also socio-political and socio-economic orders. Since the abolishment of the colonial rules in the southern Mediterranean, there have been various attempts to establish cooperation based on partnership and the Barcelona Process has become the most significant one, of the last quarter of the 20^th century, since it paves the way for a union, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). This study analyzes the Euro-Mediterranean relations within an institutional level starting from the Barcelona Process and the current UfM. The quarter-century long initiative has been focused within the Democratic Peace Theory in order to form a base for both trade-oriented and institutionalized structure of relations alongside border securitization concerns of the European Union. It puts UfM’s political effectiveness at the center and provides an analysis regarding the capability of its responsiveness to certain political issues of the Mediterranean Region.