1. US and EU: Lack of Strategic Vision, Frustrated Efforts Toward the Arab Transitions
- Author:
- Amy Hawthorne and Danya Greenfield
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- The United States and Europe have yet to show the requisite political will or to develop sustainable strategies to help Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen in their democratic transitions more than two years after a wave of popular revolutions toppled decades-old autocracies. To be sure, deepening political, economic, and security challenges in these countries from June 2012 to August 2013, the period analyzed in this report, complicated efforts to provide support. Yet the United States and the European Union (EU) missed important opportunities to capitalize on openings where they existed or to send consistent and sustained diplomatic messages where needed. Faced with the vast amounts of cash the Gulf countries could provide rapidly to the transition countries, especially to Egypt, some in Washington and Brussels wondered if the United States and the EU even had much to offer. In the past year, fatigue and frustration more than energy and hope have characterized US and European engagement with these countries.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Social Movement
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Middle East, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, and Tunisia