Abstract

With the onset of the Arab Spring, external actors found themselves caught off guard by the democratic uprisings and the implications they hold to their respective national interests in the region. For the EU, the instability in the region presents challenges to the long relationship the European nations culminated with the Middle East, especially with Egypt. The uprising created a situation where the EU had to develop new policies to capitalize on the opportunity for democratic change while maintaining the decades long EU’s interest in Egypt. Accordingly, the main question this study tries to answer is whether and the extent to which the EU was able to adopt the proper policies, particularly whether the EU was able to use the resources at its disposal to facilitate democratic change in Egypt. The following secondary questions would also be answered throughout the study: 1. What is the nature of the EU’s foreign policy in terms of its mechanism, limitations, major premises and factors influencing its effectiveness? 2. What is the history of EU-Egyptian partnership prior to the Arab Spring? 3. Where there any changes to EU-Egyptian relations after the Arab Spring to the present? 4. How does the situation of Tunisia and the EU’s actions in the country differ from the EU’s actions in the Egyptian case?

Department

Political Science Department

Degree Name

MA in Political Science

Graduation Date

2-1-2015

Submission Date

February 2016

First Advisor

Dr. Gamal Soltan

Committee Member 1

Dr. Riham Bahi

Committee Member 2

Dr. Nadine Sika

Extent

129 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

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