Book Review: Hans Günther Brauch, Antonio Marquina, and Abdelwahab Biad (eds.), Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for the 21st Century (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000, 477 pp., no price given hbk.)
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Roberto Aliboni |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030905 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
934
Hans Günther Brauch, Antonio Marqui na, and Abdelwahab Bi ad (eds.), Euro-
Mediterranean Partnership for the 21st Century (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000,
477 pp., no pri ce given hbk.).
This book refers to th e Euro-Mediterranean Partnersh ip between the EU and t welve
Southern Mediterranea n countries that was established by t he Barcel ona
Declaration at the e nd of 19 95. The first part of the volu me presents a conceptual
review by Hans Günther Brauch of Confidence and Security-Building Measures
(CBMs, CSBM s), as they have de veloped from the experien ce of the CSCE/OSCE.
He concludes that the political and military fragmenta tion of the Mediterrane an
does not allo w for the ap plication of CBMs/CSBMs. Rather, it requires the
implementa tion of Partnersh ip-Building Measures (PBMs), i. e. ‘political measures
primarily in the economic but also in t he ecolog ical realm which have a p ositive
impact on the societal a nd cultural leve l’ (p. 55). Brauch pu blished this conc lusion
in 1 994. In 1996, at the Euro-Med Ministerial Co nference in Malta, the Ministers
stressed t he non-militar y rationale underlyi ng their common concept of security in
the Mediterran ean, th us shi fting from the search for CB Ms/CSBMs to that for
PBMs.
On these premises, the three subsequent p arts of the book outline po ints of view
on CBMs from the n orthern side of the M editerranean, the souther n side, as well as
Bosnia-Herzeg ovina and Cyprus. Finally, the last part, short- and long-term
proposals for PB Ms are analysed from a policy-ori ented perspective.
In the second part of the volume, the long and detailed consi deration of Euro-
Med’s scant success or failure in achieving CBM s/CSBMs i s rather depressing and
perhaps not very hel pful in the l ight of the bo ok’s starting point, i.e. t hat
CBMs/CSBMs are incongruous with the Mediterranean context, so that even the
Euro-Med political leadership has set asi de their implementation. Still, the reader
will find a very well-written c hapter on the OSC E experience by M onika Wohlfeld
and Elizabe th Abela.
The souther n views expressed in th e third part of the b ook also deserve attent ion,
in particular those dealing with political and sec urity affa irs. Abd elwahab B iad,
Mohammed El-Sayed Selim and Béch ir Chourou leave aside the topic of CBMs
and provide the rea ders wi th well-artic ulated state ments ab out Southe rn securit y
perceptio ns relati ng to t he E uropean Union, NATO and their militar y po licies.
Their c onclusion is that military security i s a divisive fact or across the
Mediterrane an. To avoid divi sions, the Euro-Medite rranean Partnership (EMP)
must emp hasise its h olistic character and its in terest towards soc ial, economic a nd
cultural factors. Cho urou adds that the EU shou ld ‘give p reference…to lo ng-term
[objective s] such as favouring the e mergence of self-con fident, self-rel iant
communitie s in the So uth, thereby insuring securi ty for itself and for its
neighbou rs’ (p. 18 7). Chourou’s concl usion includes a crit ique of EMP’s pressures
towards democra tisation in the South.
The fourth part of th e book presents three chapters, t wo on the Western Balkans
and one on Cyprus. The latter is a g ood historical ove rview of events on the island
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