Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Realist-normative power Europe? Explaining EU policies toward Lebanon from an IR perspective

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Comparative European Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

This article seeks to explain the relationship between the European Union (EU) and one of its Middle Eastern neighbors: Lebanon. By conducting an in-depth empirical single case study and engaging in competitive theory testing, this article shows that the EU in Lebanon behaves at the same time as a normative and a realist power. This article challenges both the scholarship on the EU that sees the EU as a normative power as well as scholarship that focuses on structural neorealism to explain the EU's role in its neighborhood. This article adopts an approach that is different from the mainstream approaches in two ways. First, it focuses on the entire set of policies that the EU has implemented or not in Lebanon. Second, it provides an in-depth case study centered on the interaction between the EU and Lebanon, while also looking at the regional dynamics and at the domestic tensions within Lebanon. By doing so, it shows that the EU is a ‘realist-normative’ power in the specific case of Lebanon. Thus, these two frameworks are a false dichotomy and the argument shall be tested on other cases to make it generalizable. This suggests that the constructivist-realist divide coexists in practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Whereas realism in its several variations is usually considered a theory; constructivism is usually regarded as an approach or a framework of analysis (Dessler, 1999).

  2. Democracy, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, market economy principles and sustainable development.

  3. The UN-led mission deployed after the 2006 war in Lebanon.

  4. However, Waltz concedes that states are not the only actors in the system, such as rival political groups (as opposed to individuals) of lesser importance in the system, of which the EU is an example.

  5. Empirically, this assumption has since been countered in the literature, most notably by Allison (1971). In our case, the non-unitary nature of the actors in question has been already discussed.

  6. According to Edward Said, Orientalism refers to three things: (i) the changing relationship between Asia and Europe as it concerns history and culture, (ii) ideological images and fantasies of the world called the Orient, and (iii) a scientific discipline in the West where one specializes in studying Oriental cultures and traditions. (E. Said, ‘Orientalism Reconsidered’ Cultural Critique, n.1 (Autumn 1985), p. 89 and also E. Said, Orientalism, New York, Pantheon Books, 1978). These definitions have been largely criticized as contradictory. But the debate following Said's creation of the term has led to an overall consensus around the following definition of Orientalism as, ‘mechanism at work in the social sciences, literature, music and the visual arts whereby the Orient becomes the mirror of what the Occident is not’ in (Bottici and Challand, 2006).

  7. This is different from the concept of the EU as a civilizing power, referring to the EU as trying to export its own sets of norms abroad.

  8. The Special Tribunal (UNSC1595/2005) aims at conducting international investigations on Hariri's assassination and the other political killings. Among others: three members of Parliament (Gemayel, Eido, Ghanem), journalists, the deputy chief of the Lebanese Army (El Hajj) and the senior military of Hezbollah (Mugnyiah) (Blandford, 2006).

  9. Including the death of 1183 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and the injury of 4055 (UN sources).

  10. Since the New National pact of 1943, the President is a Maronite, the Prime Minister is a Sunni and the speaker of the Parliament a Shia. The resolution to the 18-month long political crisis was found in Doha. The Doha agreement established that the members of the National Dialogue Conference asserted their commitment to saving Lebanon and ending the political crisis. The points of agreement included: the decision of electing Michel Suleiman, national unity government as well as the caza as an electoral constituency.

  11. Many observers on both the Israeli and the Lebanese sides contend that Hezbollah is enriching its weapon arsenal. Hezbollah is acquiring more weapons, it is thus re-arming. There are very diverse figures about the exact number of Hezbollah arsenal; the latest report by the New York Times refers about 50 000 rockets as well as 50 Fateh missiles (www.indianexpress.com/news/hezbollah-has-built-up-arsenal-of-50000-rockets-wikileaks/721512/).

  12. In 2007, the EU allotted €50 million in Community assistance to Lebanon; the long-term allocation (2007–2010) was €187 million.

  13. The legal basis for the ENP's use in Lebanon is the EU-Lebanon Association Agreement, which was adopted in 2002 and entered into force in April 2006 (https://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/lebanon/index_en.htm).

  14. http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/documents_en.htm#1, Country's strategy article.

  15. http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/documents_en.htm#1.

  16. www.dellbn.ec.europa.eu.

  17. The Petersberg's tasks include humanitarian and rescue tasks and traditional peacekeeping. They were first formulated by the Western European Union in 1992 during a meeting at the Hotel Petersberg. The Treaty on the European Union incorporated these tasks in 1997.

  18. I-UNIFIL-9, November 2007, Tyre, Lebanon.

References

  • Abdul-Hussain, H. (2009) A quest for democracy in a world of realism: The cases of Lebanon and Iran. Mediterranean Politics 14 (3): 407–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aliboni, R., Driss, A., Schumacher, T. and Tovias, A. (2008) Putting the Mediterranean Union in perspective. EuropMesCo, 68, http://www.euromesco.net/images/paper68eng.pdf, accessed 11 May 2011.

  • Allison, G. (1971) Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2005) Power in the Global Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bicchi, F. (2006) Our size fits all: Normative power Europe and the Mediterranean. Journal of European Public Policy 12 (2): 286–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blandford, N. (2006) Killing Mr Lebanon. New York: Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bottici, C. and Challand, B. (2006) Political myth: The clash of civilization as a self-fulfilling prophecy. European Journal of Social Theory 9: 315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cebeci, M. (ed.) (2010) Issues in EU and US Foreign Policies. London: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier, D. (1993) The comparative method. In: A.D. Finifter (ed.) Political Science: The State of the Discipline II. Washington DC: American Political Science Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costalli, S. (2009) Power over the sea: The relevance of neoclassical realism to Euro-Mediterranean relations. Mediterranean Politics 14 (3): 323–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cremona, M. and Meloni, G. (2007) The European Neighbourhood Policy: A Framework for Modernisation? EUI Working Paper, No. LAW 2007/21.

  • Del Sarto, R.A. and Schumacher, T. (2005) From Emp to Enp: What's at state with the European Neighbourhood Policy towards the Southern Mediterranean? European Foreign Affairs Review 10 (1): 17–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dessler, D. (1999) Constructivism within a positivist social science. Review of International Studies 25 (1): 123–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dessler, D. and Owen, J.M. (2005) Constructivism and the problem of explanation: A review article. Perspectives on Politics 3 (3): 597–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodini, M. and Fantini, M. (2006) The EU Neighbourhood Policy: Implications for economic growth and stability. Journal of Common Market Studies 44 (3): 507–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnemore, M. (2004) The Purpose of Intervention. Changing Beliefs about the Use of Force. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Girard, R. (2006) La Guerre Ratée d’Israel contre le Hezbollah. Paris: Perrin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginsberg, R.H. (2001) The European Union in International Politics – Baptism by Fire. Lanham, MD; Boulder, CO; New York and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday, F. (2005) The Middle East in International Relations: Power, Politics and Ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, C. (1993) The capability-expectations gap or conceptualising Europe's international role. Journal of Common Market Studies 31 (3): 305–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, C. (2003) The Changing Politics of Foreign Policy. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyde-Price, A. (2006) Normative power Europe: A realist critique. Journal of European Public Policy 13 (1): 217–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katzenstein, P.J. (1996) Cultural Norms and National Security. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, A. (2010) Acquiescence to assassinations in post-civil war Lebanon. Mediterranean Politics 15 (1): 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavenex, S. (2004) EU external governance in ‘wider Europe’? Journal of European Public Policy 11 (4): 680–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavenex, S. and Schimmelfennig, F. (2009) EU rules beyond EU borders: Theorizing external governance in European politics. Journal of European Public Policy 16 (6): 791–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manners, I. (2002) Normative power Europe: A contradiction in terms? Journal of Common Market Studies 40 (2): 235–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Missiroli, A. (2007) The ENP three years on: Where from – And where next? Policy Brief, European Policy Centre.

  • Noe Oest, K.J. (2007) The EU as a Reluctant Conflict Manager: The Case of Lebanon 2006, Proceedings of the conference The EU and the Promotion and Stabilization of Conflict Settlements, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, http://nottingham.ac.uk/shared/shared_icmcr/Docs/oest.pdf, accessed 11 May 2011.

  • Pace, M., Seeberg, P. and Cavatorta, F. (2009) The EU's democratization agenda in the Mediterranean: A critical inside-out approach. Democratization 16 (1): 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rennick, S.A. and Jonsson, B.R. (2008) A Durable Peace or Undesired Interventionism? Regional Center on Conflict Prevention, Amman, Jordan. Working Article.

  • Rosenau, J. (1992) Governance, order and change in World Politics. In: J. Rosenau and E. Czempiel, (eds.) Governance without Government: Order and Change in World Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–29.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Seeberg, P. (2009) The EU as a realist actor in normative clothes: EU democracy promotion in Lebanon and the European Neighborhood Policy. Democratization 16 (1): 81–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sjursen, H. (2006a) What kind of power? Journal of European Public Policy 13 (2): 169–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sjursen, H. (2006b) The EU as a normative power: How can this be? Journal of European Public Policy 13 (2): 235–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, K.E. (2003) The evolution and application of EU membership conditionality. In: M. Cremona (ed.) The Enlargement of the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 105–140.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tocci, N. (ed.) (2008) Who is a Normative Foreign Policy Actor? The EU and Its Global Partners. Brussels: CEPS. CEPS Working Document No. 281.

  • Tocci, N. and Emerson, M. (2007) A little clarification, please, on the Union for the Mediterranean, http://www.ceps.be/StaffRecord.php?staff_id=29&researcher=1&researcher=&.

  • Waltz, K. (1979) Theory of International Politics. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wendt, A. (1999) Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • White, B. (2001) Understanding European Foreign Policy. Hampshire, UK; New York: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfers, A. (1952) National security as an ambiguous symbol. Political Science Quarterly 67 (4): 481–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, 79, J. F. Kennedy Street, Mailbox 134, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusett, USA

    Chiara Ruffa

Authors
  1. Chiara Ruffa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ruffa, C. Realist-normative power Europe? Explaining EU policies toward Lebanon from an IR perspective. Comp Eur Polit 9, 562–580 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2011.17

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2011.17

Keywords

Search

Navigation