ABSTRACT
The ‘gaps’ existing between socially constructed arenas such as ‘global north’ and ‘global south’ represent one of the thorniest and complex problems in development studies. Yet, amidst this complexity, the nature and implications of neoliberal processes cutting across these developmental gaps remain an important field of inquiry. In this chapter, I will argue that the successive waves of Euro-Mediterranean policies, launched from 1995 until the present, embody a variety of these neoliberal processes. Inspired by Brenner, Peck and Theodore’s concept of ‘variegated neoliberalism’, this chapter will simultaneously juxtapose the concepts of ‘uneven development of neoliberalization’ with the ‘neoliberalization of regulatory uneven development’ (Brenner, Peck and Theodore 2010; Peck, Theodore and Brenner 2012b). The ‘uneven development of neoliberalization’ concept sheds light on the path dependent trajectory of neoliberalism within these policies, ranging from a thin market regulatory process (European Mediterranean Policy EMP or Barcelona Process in 1995) to a thicker process, more recently embedded within the European Neighbourhood Policies (ENP). The ‘neoliberalization of regulatory uneven development’ highlights how the EU deploys a similar regulatory logic against geographically differentiated institutions. I will conclude by showing how the juxtaposition of these two concepts epitomise the many contradictions envisaged within these neoliberal processes and the extent to which they are conducive for the sustainability of Euro-Mediterranean relations.
