The European Union and resolution of regional conflicts

Abstract

This study argues that the forms of identity relations that the European Union (EU) establishes with outsider states shapes the Union's ability to positively influence conflicts involving those states. The European identity promoted by the EU embodies both inclusive and exclusive aspects. While the EU has invoked the inclusive aspects of its identity in relation to the states in Central and Eastern Europe, it has constructed Morocco to be inherently different, and fluctuated between inclusion and exclusion in the case of Turkey. These various identity relations have shaped the the EU's impact on Polish-German, Spanish-Moroccan, and Greek-Turkish relations. While the cases of Polish-German and post-1999 Greek-Turkish relations show how an inclusive EU can contribute to the resolution of conflicts on its borders, the cases of Spanish-Moroccan and pre-1999 Greek-Turkish relations demonstrate how an exclusionary EU can end up aggravating the conflicts.