ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a ‘stabilisation-democratisation dilemma’ perspective to discuss how European efforts to promote human rights and mutual understanding through intercultural dialogue in the neighbourhood have shaped the multidimensional conception of the EU boundary with Mediterranean countries. As improving respect for cultural diversity and human rights have been strong priorities in EU foreign policy on this area, promotion of them is assumed to jointly contribute to shaping a shared ethos among the citizens and representatives of this area. If coherently pursued, therefore, these objectives can reduce the overall extent of the separation that the existing physical boundary and socio-economic imbalances between the two shores enhance. If efforts intended to advance these values have been inconsistent, they may result in further tightening of this boundary, as a lack of coherence may increase disenchantment, suspicion and misunderstanding among partners and citizens, creating additional layers of separation among them. To assess the actual contribution of the EU’s human rights and intercultural dialogue policies over time from this ‘boundary perspective,’ this chapter critically approaches the rhetoric-performance gap in EU human rights and intercultural dialogue policies in relation to the stabilisation-democratisation dilemmas that followed three ‘turning points’ in EU Mediterranean policy: (a) the terror attacks of 9/11 2001, (b) the outbreak of Arab uprisings in 2010/11 and (c) the ‘polycrisis’ that erupted in the early 2020s.
