Risposte europee ed americane ad un anno dalla primavea araba

Looking back at European responses to the revolts that shook the entire Middle East and north African region, one is struck by the relative rapidity with which the EU shifted its discourse towards the region, elaborating a shared narrative of the necessary steps to undertake. Due to the lack of significant financial resources, the EU has since then tended to act more as a broker for the region’s transitioning countries vis-à-vis international financial institutions, rather than as a direct economic provider. Rhetorically, it has strengthenend its conditionality approach, framed around the notion of ‘More for More’ and of ‘deep democracy’.
On the American side, the discourse has increasingly underlined the importance of taking into account the will of the Arab populations, rather than merely complying with regional autocrats’ demands. On the policy side, the Obama administration has focused on the economic dimension, but framing itself as a broker, along the lines of the EU.
At a time of profound geopolitical changes in one of the most volatile world regions, the West has used nice words and showed good intentions, but not much more than that.