Security-Democracy Dilemma in European Union’s Policy Towards the Southern Mediterranean: Institutional Initiatives After the Arab Spring

European Union (EU) was surprised with the anti-governmental uprisings started in the Arab world at the end of 2010 like the other international actors. Political transformations in the region led the EU to redefine its long-rooted relations particularly with the Mediterranean states of the Middle East that is supported by institutional cooperation. EU officials introduced new initiatives to support the political dimension of the relations and to contribute to the “democratization” of the region after expressing that the policies they have pursued towards the Southern Mediterranean which mainly focused on security and economics failed. However, due to the new security threats in the Middle East and rising migration rates after the Arab Spring, the EU's Southern Mediterranean policy is still considered to be security-focused and not yet capable of providing a paradigm shift