The Will of Change: European Neighborhood Policy, Domestic Actors and Institutional Change in Morocco

194 Pages·2016·1.6 MB·English

by  Eva-Maria Maggi (auth.)

Politik und Gesellschaft
des Nahen Ostens
Herausgegeben von
Martin Beck
Cilja Harders
Annette Jünemann
Richard Ouaissa
Stephan Stetter
Die Reihe „Politik und Gesellschaft des Nahen Ostens“ beschäft igt sich mit
aktuellen Entwicklungen und Umbrüchen im Nahen Osten – einer Region, die
von hoher globaler Bedeutung ist und deren Dynamiken insbesondere auch
auf Europa ausstrahlen. Konfl ikt und Kooperation etwa im Rahmen der euro-
mediterranen Partnerschaft , der Nahostkonfl ikt, energiepolitische Fragen, Um-
weltprobleme, Migration, Islam und Islamismus sowie Autoritarismus und
Transformation sind wichtige Stichworte. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf politikwis-
senschaft lichen Werken,die die gesamte theoretische Breite des Faches abdecken,
aber auch Beiträge aus anderen sozialwissenschaft lichen Disziplinen, die relevante
politische Zusammenhänge behandeln.
Herausgegeben von
Dr. Martin Beck ist Professor für gegenwartsbezogene Nahost-Studien an der
University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Dänemark.
Dr. Cilja Harders ist Professorin für Politikwissenschaft und Leiterin der
„Arbeitsstelle Politik des Vorderen Orients“ am Otto-Suhr-Institut für
Politikwissenschaft der Freien Universität Berlin, Deutschland.
Dr. Annette Jünemann ist Professorin für Politikwissenschaft am Institut für
Internationale Politik der Helmut-Schmidt-Universität Hamburg, Deutschland.
Richard Ouaissa ist Professor für Politik des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens am
Centrum für Nah- und Mittelost-Studien der Philipps-Universität Marburg,
Deutschland.
Dr. Stephan Stetter ist Professor für Internationale Politik und Konfliktforschung
an der Universität der Universität der Bundeswehr München, Deutschland.
Eva-Maria Maggi
The Will of Change
European Neighborhood Policy,
Domestic Actors and Institutional
Change in Morocco
Eva-Maria Maggi
Tucson, Arizona (USA)
Doctorate at Helmut-Schmidt University, University of the Federal Armed Forces in
Hamburg, 2014
Politik und Gesellschaft des Nahen Ostens
ISBN 978-3-658-11035-2 ISBN 978-3-658-11036-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-11036-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015946629
Springer VS
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Being in the research business is much like running a marathon. Towards the fin-
ish line, only a strong will can overcome the physiological pain. And, without the
support of fabulous colleagues, family and friends, neither the race nor this book
would have been possible. The list of people who helped me along the way is long
and my thanks extend to all, even those who are unnamed here.
First of all, Annette Jünemann was the best Ph.D. advisor I could have wished
for. Enthusiastic, supportive and brilliant, she was my guide along the way. Never
hesitating to weigh-in, her advising brought this book to academic excellence. I
extent my gratitude to the other editors of the Springer series “Politics and Society
in the Middle East” Martin Beck, Cilja Harder, Rachid Quaissa and Steffen Stetter
for including my book. I also thank Sabine Lang at the University of Washington
in Seattle who not only gave valuable insights as my committee member but also
welcomed me with open arms at the Jackson School of International Studies.
The same is true for the European Union Center of Excellence at the University
of Washington, especially Phil Shekleton and Jim Caporaso, whose support and
encouragement contributed significantly to this book.
My research trips to Morocco were made possible by the generous funding of
the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). A special thanks goes to the
interviewees in Rabat, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Brussels; their time and in-
sights gave this research its special depth. I would also like to thank the School of
Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona for its inspiring work
environment and specifically Paulette Kurzer for being an exceptionally supportive
colleague and friend.
The book further profited from the comments of Katrin Boettger, Almut Peukert,
Jan Ullrich, Daniel Ammons, as well as Fernando and Margot Maggi. Elizabeth
Zherka and Janssen Peters did the final editorial work. Thanks to all of them.
Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to my dear husband and best friend
Judson Corn who tirelessly believed in my abilities to accomplish anything. Without
VI Acknowledgements
his patience and support this book would not exist. My daughter Edda showed me
how much I can accomplish in little time. This book is my encouragement for her
to never stop following her dreams.
Tucson, June 2015 Eva-Maria Maggi
Preface
Preface
We know a lot about the European Union’s (EU) political impact on its member
states and also on countries in the process of accession. Comparably little, how-
ever, is known about the EU’s capability to exert influence on those countries in
its neighborhood that have no perspective of becoming a member of the Union. It
is puzzling that the EU has developed so many instruments to exert influence on
processes of transformation in its neighborhood without really knowing how, and
to what extent, these instruments influence policies in neighboring countries. It is
therefore with high political and academic interest that one dives into Eva Maggi’s
exciting book on EU-Moroccan relations. How do we measure political impact and
what are the relevant factors that trigger institutional change? These questions are
all the more significant in the political context of the uprisings of Arab societies
which disclosed previous failures and limits of the EU’s approach towards the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA). Having tacitly supported authoritarian regimes
in the hope that they would preserve stability, the EU’s self-portrayal as an agent
of democratic change has lost all credibility. In the post Arab Spring era, however,
the EU contends to have learned a lesson and therefore promised to side with the
forces of change from now on. But, what exactly do domestic actors expect from
the EU? To what extent – if at all – do they want to be europeanized?
While Eva Maggi developed actor-centered Europeanization as the theoretical
framework for her analysis, her approach is anything but Eurocentristic. On the
contrary, by adapting two approaches from new institutionalism, she develops a
theoretical perspective that focusses on the role of political actors in processes of
institutional change on both sides of the Mediterranean. The astonishing outcome of
her research is that no European elites take the driving position, but in many cases
their Moroccan counterparts are at the wheel. In contrast to the common narrative
of neo-colonial EU dominance over third world countries, this book identifies the
Moroccan political elites as the decisive actors who set the pace in the Moroccan
transformation process. In two thoroughly conducted empirical case studies, one
VIII Preface
on the EU’s impact on Moroccan economic policies and the other on Moroccan
environmental policies, Maggi substantiates how Moroccan political elites use the
political design of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) according to their own
interests. As she explores in her work, change is welcomed in some policy fields,
while resilience dominates others. Against this background it becomes clear that
top-down approaches to promote transformation in other countries do not work.
The message that practitioners in particular can take from this book is simplified
as: Only if working in dense cooperation with the political elites, the EU can exert
its influence in a partner country, and this influence will always be limited by their
specific political interests. Maggi leaves it to the reader to decide whether we like this
message or not, given that many partner countries are still (semi-) authoritarian.
Many change agents within the MENA countries, which is also part of the story,
are excluded from Euro-Mediterranean policymaking.
Maggi’s theoretically profound and empirically rich study has been defended
as a PhD thesis in November 2014 at the Faculty of Economics and Social Scienc-
es, Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg (Germany). The work fits perfectly
into the VS-Springer series ‘Politics and Society in the Middle East’, which has
a focus on theory-lead research on the Middle East and North Africa, including
its interchanges with Europe. Together with Sabine Lang from the University of
Washington in Seattle (USA), I had the great joy of supervising this research project
in a most inspiring process of reciprocal learning. This book is the result of a truly
transatlantic endeavor. After working for several years at the European Union
Center of Excellence (now Jean Monnet Center) at the University of Washington
in Seattle, Eva Maggi continues her research and teaching on Europe, the Middle
East and transatlantic relations at the School of Government and Public Policy at
the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Annette Jünemann, Hamburg in June 2015
Contents
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................. V
Preface ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII
Abbreviations ..................................................... XIII
1 Introduction : sowing the wind ..................................... 1
1.1 Institutional change and external actors .......................... 2
1.2 Research problem and questions ................................ 5
1.3 Case design and selection ...................................... 9
1.4 Significance of the research .................................... 10
1.5 Structure of the book ......................................... 11
2 Actor-centered Europeanization ................................... 13
2.1 Theoretical foundations: explaining institutional change .......... 14
2.1.1 New Institutionalisms .................................. 15
2.1.1.1 Institutions: from formal rules to cultural norms .... 16
2.1.1.2 Actors: between gardeners and engineers ........... 20
2.1.1.3 Change: between path dependency and
incremental change ............................. 23
2.1.2 Europeanization: EU driven change ...................... 27
2.1.2.1 Institutional analysis and European studies ........ 27
2.1.2.2 Top-down and bottom-up Europeanization ........ 28
2.2 Fusing actors and change: actor-centered Europeanization ......... 33
2.2.1 Actor-centered Europeanization: Institutions, Actors,
Change ............................................... 34
2.2.2 Definition of key concepts ............................... 35
2.2.2.1 Institutions ..................................... 35