ABSTRACT
In security affairs, as in architecture, form should follow function. If the opposite approach is adopted, if function is forced to fit the mould of existing form or structure, the result is likely to be irrelevant, at best, and perhaps even counterproductive. If this logic is correct, then even if some commonality of concerns in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) area is posited for security purposes – a position that does not easily stand up to close scrutiny – EMP policies on arms control and limitations can be fully appropriate only to security problems that are characteristic of that area but that neither impinge on nor are impinged upon by security problems of other regions. Otherwise, such policies will reflect the reverse logic: of a structure or institution in search of a function, or an actor in search of a role.
