Bouris, Dimitris (2011) State-building without a state : the European Union's role in the occupied Palestinian territories after the Oslo Accords. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to shed light on the distinctive role of the European Union (EU) as a state-builder in the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). The thesis engages with distinctive literatures on liberal peace, peacebuilding, state-building, the EU and conflict resolution as well as Security and Judiciary Sector Reform. By synthesizing these literatures this research will try to test the EU effectiveness in the state-building project in the OPTs by reference to two main case studies: the EU’s initiatives in the domains of Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Judiciary Sector Reform (JSR) while at the same time addressing issues of the broader governance agenda and the rule of law.
Thus, the broader liberal peace and peacebuilding literature will help contextually to understand how state-building has been used as a tool for implementing the liberal peace, the distinctive literature on state-building will help to identify the ‘core’ state functions that institutions established should be able to run and the literature on conflict resolution will help to identify all tools and mechanisms that the EU has at its disposal in order to ‘build’ states. By drawing on these literatures, this thesis will set three criteria on which the effectiveness of the EU as a state-builder will be tested namely generation of legitimacy, coherence and regulation of violence/ability of enforcement.
The thesis is mainly empirically-oriented (drawing on almost 100 interviews that were conducted with EU, Israeli and Palestinian officials) and will focus on the two civilian missions that the EU has deployed in the OPTs (EUPOL COPPS and EUBAM Rafah) in order to help the Palestinian Authority reform its security sector as well as initiatives in the domains of judiciary sector reform and the rule of law (Seyada Project). The main argument of the thesis is that the EU has approached the state-building project from a technical aspect without linking it with clear political decisions and objectives. As a result, while initiatives in the domains of SSR and JSR have helped the PA improve the situation on the ground this was done at the expense of democracy and political objectives that would contribute to the ending of the Israeli Occupation.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JQ Political institutions (Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Area, etc.) J Political Science > JZ International relations
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Nation-building -- Palestine, Palestine -- Politics and government, European Union
Official Date:	September 2011
Dates:	Date Event September 2011 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Politics and International Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Youngs, Richard A. ; Christou, George, 1973-
Sponsors:	University Association for Contemporary European Studies ; European Commission (EC) ; University of Warwick. Dept. of Politics and International Studies
Extent:	Dept. of Politics and International Studies
Language:	eng

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