Eastern and Western Perceptions on EU Aid in Light of the Arab Spring

Abstract

The European Union welcomed the demonstrators' demands wholeheartedly during the Arab Spring, trying to maximize the assistance that it could offer to support genuine democratic transition, at least at a rhetorical level. This article reflects on the changes in the neighborhood policy by focusing on public perceptions measured in Europe and in countries in close proximity to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. European views on solidarity are compared to local public opinion on EU involvement in the region. Recipient views in Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, and Israel are explored by analyzing relevant results of the Arab Barometer and Neighborhood Barometer surveys. Findings indicate that the Middle Eastern public opinion tends to appreciate the EU's gestures with the exception of Egypt, but conditionality is more in line with European public opinion.

Hegemonic Solidarity? NGO Perceptions on Power, Solidarity, and Cooperation with Their Donors

“…The data collection was part of a larger project tracking the recent changes of Western-aid policies in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine (WB and GS) and attempting to understand local perceptions on aid-related foreign interventions. While aspects of the broader context were reported elsewhere, 31 the preceding brief summary on the Palestinian civil society (see above), the following description of the data collection and data analysis resemble the corresponding sections of a sister article based on the same data set. 32 The most recent-and from the perspective of this article the most relevant-round of interviews was conducted in the WB and GS in Summer 2015 ( Table 1).…”

Cultures of (dis)trust: Shame and solidarity from recipient NGO perspectives

“…The data collection was part of a larger project tracking the recent changes of western aid policies in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine, and how these changes have been applied to control regional developments; to understand how western aid policies have contributed to the 'Arab Spring' and how the focus of western aid has been changing; and, finally, to understand local perceptions on aidrelated foreign interventions. Aspects of the broader context were reported elsewhere (Paragi, 2015(Paragi, , 2016a(Paragi, , 2016b. The most recent -and from the perspective of this article the most relevant -round of interviews was conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from July to September 2015.…”