Arab Spring in Berlin and Paris: German and French Foreign Policy Between Continuity and Change

The Arab Spring has not only affected the well-established structures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) but became also a touchstone for the German and French foreign policy. A lasting three-year transformation process turned out to be an unpredictable factor for the traditional German and French foreign policy principles within a novel geopolitical environment.
In this respect, this study deals with the comparative foreign policy analysis of Germany and France with regard to the transformations in the MENA since 2011. Analaysis is done on the basis of constructivist role theory in connection with the Civilian Power concept. Major interest of this study is dedicated to the analysis of the foreign policy repertoire and identity of Germany and France towards the transition countries in North Africa. A question is to be answered if the challenges provoke continuity or change.

Autorentext

Nurettin Yigit was born in 1989 in Kempten (Germany). He obtained his master s degrees in Middle Eastern Politics and Economics at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) at the Philipps-University of Marburg. During his studies he gained academical and practical experiences in Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey. The first-hand experiences that Mr. Yigit was able to gain during and after the Arab Spring , encouraged him to devote time and interest to the European Foreign Policy towards the Middle East and North Africa. Currently, Nurettin Yigit is residing in Vienna, Austria. There, he is engaged in academic research on International Development.

Leseprobe
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Chapter 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:
The intention of this chapter is to present the role theory in combination with the Civilian Power concept as a theoretical and conceptual tool for the analysis of the foreign policy behaviour and action of France and Germany toward the North African transformation states. In order to understand the French and German national role conceptions in foreign policy, it is essential to examine the theoretical framework of this study, which is based on the role theory as a part of the constructivist International Relations (IR) theory. The end of the Cold War marked an unexpected appeasement from the constructivist view. This showed a weakness in neo-realist and neo-liberal theories with their failure to account for both the end of the conflict and the political transformation process of Eastern European countries (cf. Kubálková 2001: 32). In a similar theoretical context, world society was taken by surprise by the commencement of the socio-political transformation of North African states in the spirit of the Arab uprisings since 2011. The mindset of France and Germany was such that these upheavals, as the main event examined in this book, were beyond all expectations.
This chapter is divided into four parts. First, a brief overview of the main issues of constructivism in IR will be given as the general theoretical framework. Besides the introduction to constructivism, the presentation of Kalevi Holsti s role theory as the supporting theoretical pillar is essential for this study. This section contains the assumptions of the role theory and its key concepts. Within role theory Hanns W. Maull s Civilian Power approach in the role conception is another important element in the third part. Role theory and Civilian Power concept two sub-concepts of constructivism play a decisive role for the comparative analysis. The last part summarises briefly the theoretical framework of this book.
Role theory is applicable when analysing qualitative differences and basic orientations in foreign policy of several actors. For that reason, the question arises how diverging foreign policy behaviours of states, ceteris paribus, can be analysed?