EU-Lebanese relations: shifting EU policies in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings?

This chapter argues that the European Union, challenged by unforeseen political developments in the post-uprising period, had to adapt to new security threats and a destabilizing neighborhood by rebalancing its policies to serve its own security interests more openly. It purposes to shed light on elements of continuity and change in the EU's approach to its neighbors in the southern Mediterranean. The chapter explores the development of Euro Mediterranean relations until 2011. It examines the EU's initial response to the Arab uprisings. The chapter focuses on the EU-Lebanese relations after the Arab uprisings through assumptions of historical institutionalism which assumes policy outcomes to be shaped by "existing policy objectives, standard modes of procedure, means and capacities of implementation, and wider held norms and preferences". It engages with the tensions between the Neighbourhood Policy's normative aspirations and rational self-interest in stability. The chapter highlights positive implications of a potentially shifting EU policy towards flexibility, sincerity and pragmatism for Lebanon after Arab uprisings.