The European Union, democracy and counter-terrorism in the Maghreb

Since 2001, the nature of the European Union's external action in the Mediterranean, particularly with respect to North Africa, has undergone significant change. The normative objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership have become securitized in that co-operation to achieve economic and political development between South Mediterranean states has been effectively replaced by co-operation to combat a shared threat: transnational terrorism. The signifier of this process has been the way in which the approach to the issue of migration as a security concern has been modified but the consequence has been to downplay the role of norms of democratization and human rights in intra-Mediterranean political relationships.