The Arab Spring: Finding Common Ground through Values

Introduction

Recent and on-going changes in the Arab world (from Syria to Libya) should be seen as part of a larger phenomenon of adaptation to the parameters of a globalised world. In fact, the progressive global integration among peoples and nations of the world has always been driven by cooperation and integration among markets on trade-related issues. But in the last two decades, it has also reached and involved social and political realms. Global integration is no longer only about economics but also about politics and peoples.

In many countries, better and easier access to information, new tools of communication (such as the Internet and social networks), growing aspirations for a better life and more human security and the perceptions of change elsewhere raise frustration and discontent with bad governance, overregulation, corruption and repression. These are the reasons behind the turmoil and the search for a different future, which are changing politics and societies in the Arab world.

The EU reaction to the Arab Spring

The EU promptly reacted to the Arab Spring (in particular, after the eruption of fighting in Libya) with a clear message to the whole world, especially to those fighting for freedom in their own country and to those trying to stop the Arab spring with violence.

In its Communication of 8 March 2011, the European Commission launched, with the full support of other European institutions and Member States, the ambitious Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity with the Southern Mediterranean (European Commission 2011). Since then, all EU actions are meant to promote a negotiated and peaceful settlement of conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and to demonstrate the importance of Europe's role in the Arab Spring and the Middle East Peace Process.

The Partnership translates into a solemn political action plan what peoples from the other side of Mediterranean Sea were calling for: a new start, a new way of life in which the promotion of democracy, human rights and shared prosperity are the core issues and the main goals. The Partnership recognises that those peoples could and should not be left alone on their route towards a better future. The commitment for a better future, in fact, is and must be a joint commitment among us, the Europeans, and them, the North Africans, where the common ground is made of shared values, advancement towards higher standards in human rights, the rule of law and good governance in everyday life.

The European strategy is accordingly based on three key elements (as set forth in European Commission (2011, 3)):

From stability to change: the EU in search of a new role

The Arab Spring has clearly changed the geopolitical balance in the wider Middle East. In fact, the previous and divisive Middle Eastern balance of power (where Western-leaning status-quo powers faced an axis of revisionist states and organisations) is rapidly vanishing or significantly changing. Such a change has facilitated the appearance of a number of emerging actors that are pursuing their own regional goals and interests.

In this confusing situation, the EU has struggled to find a new place for itself on the changing Middle Eastern chessboard. In particular, the EU's role should be refashioned: no longer and not only a promoter of stability and order, but a real and active promoter of democracy. In other words, the EU now has to be an agent for change.

Since the very beginning of the Arab Spring, the EU has acknowledged this new role and changed its attitudes and approach without political hesitation. For instance, in February 2011, the European Council issued a declaration underlining the EU's determination ‘to lend its full support to the transition processes towards democratic governance, pluralism, improved opportunities for economic prosperity and social inclusion, and strengthened regional stability’ (European Council 2011, 2).

During that same time, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, was ready to support the new European role by highlighting the need to jettison Europe's old stability approach and switch to a new approach based on the promotion of sustainable stability and deep democracy in relation to its neighbourhood.

In order to restore stability, an orderly transition to democracy of those countries that had experienced revolutionary upheavals was now in the EU's best interests. The old policy of maintaining the status quo was now over, as was the EU's long-standing democratisation-stabilisation dilemma in the region. All of this allowed for a real and innovative realignment of European values and interests to the changing Mediterranean and Arab reality.

One of the basic concepts of the EU's new approach towards its southern neighbourhood revolves around the idea and purpose of promoting a deep democracy as illustrated by the EU Commission. This concept is wider, deeper and much more complex than the standard idea of democracy: it is a substantive idea of democracy, not a merely formal one. In the EU's mind, in fact, the building of deep and sustainable democracies requires not only regular elections but also demands the realisation of a broader set of preconditions that includes freedom of association and expression, the rule of law, the fight against corruption, democratic control over security forces and the independence of judiciary power.

In order to achieve this more ambitious goal, the relationship between the EU and its external counterparts must be reassessed according to the principle of ‘more for more’. EU support will be granted to those countries that do more for deep democracy. This implies that those countries that are willing to go further and faster than their counterparts on the road to deep democracy will get more generous European assistance and support.

Adequately monitored free and fair elections represent the entry qualification that allows countries to have additional EU support. High standards of human rights and governance will be fundamental as well, to obtain more assistance and closer political cooperation from Europe. And significant rewards in the fields of money, mobility and market access (the ‘3 Ms’, as proposed by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton) will be awarded in return for essential reforms.

All these active measures define the new role for the EU in the Mediterranean. Moreover, the EU's new vision of deep democracy allows it to achieve one of its main long-term goals, the building of a Euro-Mediterranean community of law, economics, peace and human security.

The European Neighbourhood Policy: a turning point and a new responsibility for the EU

The Arab Spring–-and, more generally, the social and political turmoil all over Northern Africa and the Middle East–-is the main reason behind the review of EU policies and approaches regarding the new goals and purposes. In particular, four new goals may be singled out:

As rightly underlined by the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to simply provide external support is not enough if our goal is establishing real and lasting democracies and rule of law structures in third countries. What we must seriously engage in is making the norms of democracy and rule of law a substantive and natural part of the mental structures of both elites and the broader population in those countries. This is the real, new challenge faced by Europe.

Sustainable results not only require the potential for clear gain on the part of the third country but also a strong endogenous basis to make long-term structural changes and an internalisation of norms and values possible. This is also one of the main reasons pushing the EU to support the socialisation of foreign socio-political identities around an active and substantive notion of democracy and democratic norms, mechanisms and procedures. With such a goal in mind, it is clear that any kind of support (economical, political, social, educational, etc.) deployed by the EU must strengthen the whole socioeconomic foundations of those societies. It is time for an overall action plan rather than for many plans, each of which covers specific and limited aspects or fields of socio-economic life in third countries.

This new approach also means a new responsibility for the EU that must be discharged by focusing on human resources (especially on the younger generation) rather than on resources offered by the governments. By way of this new focus, it will be possible to promote start-up culture, creative models for SMEs and micro-loans for individuals, actively combating anti-West propaganda and fostering human security and job circulation. People with hopes for a better future do not become terrorists. From this perspective, donor-recipient relationships should also be transformed into a true equal partnership based on shared values and interests (beginning with the centrality of human beings).

In the field of international relations, we should focus on promoting and encouraging, though intercultural dialogue, better integration among countries in West Asia and North Africa, not necessarily through closed regional institutions but through multilateral, open and widely participating partnerships (especially when sensitive issues are at stake, like the right to water and energy). Moreover, we should work more proactively to promote peace in the Middle East.

Dangers and challenges: the radical Islamic awakening versus a common Euro-Mediterranean home without barriers

The Arab Spring has generated an even more fragmented region in which different paths and rates of democratisation can be identified. Whereas before the outburst of the Arab Spring the type of regime in the whole area remained quite monolithic, the new Mediterranean is likely to witness the coexistence of democratic and non-democratic regimes, hybrid political systems and diverging degrees of political and socio-economic development.

All 17 Arab States from Morocco to Yemen have been affected by the Arab Spring, or Revolution of 2011, but those regimes are now following paths and patterns that are sometimes hugely divergent. These are not random differences, but are susceptible to some systematic groupings: between petro states and non-petro states, which largely overlap with the categories of monarchies and non-monarchies.

Given these fragmented and uncertain socio-political situations, many of them ongoing and turbulent, radical political Islamism woke up and began exerting its influence on society and politics alike. The growing influence of radical political Islamism is a clear demonstration that peaceful political transitions cannot be separated from sustainable socio-economic development.

Divisions and underdevelopment can only strengthen the dangerous influence of radical political Islamism. We have to respond by providing youth employment, gender equality and social advancement through a renewed social contract and a sustainable and regionally integrated development agenda. Accordingly, Europe will have to commit to a continuing dialogue with the emerging political and social actors in the MENA region for a new era of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, based on trust, realism and pro-activeness. Synergies between the EU and others must be maximised by involving several relevant regional players like regional organisations, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Islamic Conference Organisation. The final result of these strengthened synergies would allow consolidation of the new regimes by progressively fostering political dialogue and solidarity with Europe in light of shared values and interests.

We should never forget that a better world is above all a more peaceful world and that peace is based on and cannot exist without freedom, respect for human dignity, democracy and justice. Accordingly, only by promoting these common values and helping to establish structures committed to social justice, democracy and the market economy, our and their key foreign policy goals will sooner or later be achieved.

This is why it is essential that we all share a common space of values, where respect for individuals and diversity, for individual freedoms (beginning with freedom of expression and religious freedom, including the right not to be subject to violence, hatred or be discriminated against on religious grounds) and national solidarity are the cornerstones. There is no real and lasting stability without a true community of values.

For Europe, one of the most important long-term challenges is to manage diversity, both internally and externally. Furthermore, our main external dimension is represented by the Islamic world from Morocco to Iran, which is Europe's nearest and most important neighbour.

Rich cultures, political and economic potential and internal conflicts coexist within this area. Its stabilisation and democratisation are one of the greatest and most complex long-term challenges for European policymaking. In turn, our dialogue and relationships with the Islamic world are enriched by the growing presence of Islam within our European societies. Cultural dialogue with non-radical Islam is therefore essential in safeguarding peace and tolerance within the European countries and in promoting good-neighbourly relations with Islamic nations. More access to the European market and more assistance, above all in developing democratic and market economic structures, are further key elements in achieving this goal.

Conclusion

Once again, we must all be aware of the need to improve democratic governance in accordance with the growing cultural diversity and religious pluralism of our present-day societies, a shared duty that calls for coordinated approaches and policies at international, national and local levels. Social and political inclusion in religious communities, especially where and when these represent a minority within a country's population, requires the exercise of a broad range of rights and liberties. The exercise of religious freedom must consider the definition of citizenship, modes of political and democratic participation, the availability of equal rights, access to economic opportunities, prospects for social cohesion, gender equality, and the laws and procedures that regulate religious education and much more.

Religious freedom is a cardinal principle of our civilisation. The first principle to underscore is that religion cannot be instrumentalised to justify violation or abuses of human rights, including the right to full religious freedom.

Each of us is called to help prevent all cases of intolerance through the only two tools that are truly effective: dialogue and multilateralism. We are living at a time when it is urgent to mend the global fracture between an open and tolerant conception of human coexistence, and totalitarian pressures that are reluctant to accept the diversity that is inherent in our world. That is why recourse to the spiritual dimension offers us an unrivalled instrument for dialogue and mutual understanding–-at the international level, naturally, but also at the national level.