In the name of human rights: the problematics of EU ethical foreign policy in Africa and elsewhere
This doctoral research project explores avenues to research ethically defined foreign policy differ ently, i.e. in ways that more systematically account for its counterproductive elements. Building on the specific case of the European Union’s foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa, embodied by the 2000 Cotonou Agreement and the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy, through four papers and one books review, the study firstly develops the Ethical Intervener Europe analytical framework to account for the embedded problematics in the EU’s ethical foreign policy. Secondly, through an eclectic theoretical approach, the study seeks to theoretically pin-point some alternatives to think about ethical foreign policy and finally, looks to concretize it through its application on the case of rela tive autonomous peace- and state-building in Somaliland. This research report briefly introduces the different findings and addresses the need for further research in view of a decolonial approach to the study of ethical foreign policy in a context of structural inequality.
Multi-ethnic democracy as an autoimmune practice: The case of international missions in Kosovo
This article explains how the international project for building multi-ethnic democracy in Kosovo undermines itself by effectively opposing the very concept of democracy. Derrida explained this with ‘autoimmunity’, a term which describes the failed attempt of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, leading to an immune response against its own cells and tissues. Unlike Derrida, I provide that the promotion or the building of multi-ethnic democracy in Kosovo commits suicide in its insemination because it is intrinsically undemocratic and because it defines the constituting elements of democracy on basis of ethnic lines while discriminating other identity forms such as gender, social, or economic class. First, the article contributes to the critique of ‘liberal interventionism’ and the logic of transposing ‘models of governing’ in third countries; second, it redefines Derrida’s concept of autoimmunity with regard to international projects for democracy building.
Arab Uprisings and the Outstanding Return to Democracy: Tunisia as a Model
In the wake of the Middle Eastern crises, the Tunisian case in focus has been doted as a unique phenomenon being that it was the Genesis of the revolution that ultimately spread across the Middle East like wild fire, but has eventually heralded a new dawn as democracy has incidentally returned to the Empire. This literature therefore looks closely at the extent to which the ‘DignityRevolution’ has been instrumental in the Middle East uprisings, which have brought an end to dynastic autocracies. The literature zeros in on the Tunisian uprising which has attracted global concerns, sympathy and has sparked interests in the international arena. The literature finds that the people hold colossal prospect in the uprising and its resultant effect, as it paved the way for the revolutionist to generate, gather and disseminate information on the condition of the entire region to the international community. The people in this context were of utmost importance and played a very crucial role in the creation of awareness, mobilization of protesters and utmost determining the direction of the uprising and also ensuring a speedy return to democratic rule. The paper submits that the role of the people in ensuring that the ruins of the uprising is not left littering around and democracy restored is highly commendable and should be a model for all other Arab countries involved in the revolution.