ABSTRACT
The analysis based on the Logics of Action approach provided evidence for the assumption that a core problem of European external promotion of gender democracy is the EU's culturalistic perception of its neighbourhood. Culturalism was identified as a dominant logic of action in the arena of gender politics, based on binary discourses that elevate Europe against the inferior 'other', here 'the Muslim'. These discursive constructions of identity, positioned within supposed 'cultural spaces' are extremely persistent since they evolved over centuries and have become part of the collective logics of action, not only in the European political elites, but also in society. The narrow perspective on gender politics as an instrument in the fight against political Islam was misleading and ended in the EU's embarrassing vicinity to Arab autocrats. In order to overcome its misperception of the Arab world, the EU should henceforth pursue the regional gender discourses more intensively, incorporating Islamist positions.
