Klappentext

This book explains why the EU is not a normative actor in the Southern Mediterranean, and how and why EU democracy promotion fails. Drawing on a combination of discourse analysis of EU policy documents and evidence from opinion polls showing what the people want , the book shows EU policy fails because the EU promotes a conception of democracy which people do not share. Likewise, the EU s strategies for economic development are misconceived because they do not reflect the people s preferences for greater social justice and reducing inequalities. This double failure highlights a paradox of EU democracy promotion: while nominally emancipatory, it de facto undermines the very transitions to democracy and inclusive development it aims to pursue.