ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) is one of the most influential and identifiable foreign policy actors in contemporary world affairs. Through its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), its presence abroad, particularly in foreign conflict zones, is traditionally based on a humanitarian approach and is marked by military passivism as well as constructivist approaches to conflict resolution. This chapter explores the development of the ENP with a particular focus on the EU’s South Mediterranean neighbourhood. It discusses the origins and development of the ENP between 2004 and 2015 in response to a changing external environment along the EU’s southern ‘border’. Taking Algeria and Tunisia as cases for analysis, the chapter evaluates the quality of social, economic and political transformation in these countries in light of their relationship with the ENP, in the hope of better understanding how the ENP may be impacting states in the North African region.
