Political Islam and European Foreign Policy: Perspectives from Muslim Democrats of the Mediterranean

The time is ripe for the European Union, its institutions and member states to undertake an explicit review of its current policy of ‘benign neglect’ towards the broad collection of ‘Muslim democrat’ parties in the Mediterranean Arab states. The group of experts assembled to produce this new book adduces mounting evidence that this policy may lead to unintended consequences, such as the reinforcement of anti-democratic regimes and radical Islamism. Their arguments favour a broad inclusion of Muslim democrats in EU initiatives aiming at the reform of governance and the development of civil society, without extending to them any singular, exclusive or unsolicited privileges. Contributors include Michael Emerson and Richard Youngs (eds), Samir Amghar, Talal Atrissi, Senem Aydin, Amel Boubekeur, Ruşen Çakır, Salah Eddine Jorshi, Salam Kawakibi, Emad El-Din Shahin, Robert Springborg and Nathalie Tocci.