Актуальные проблемы Европы №2 / 2014

Аннотация. В статье на основе показателей Всемирного банка исследуется мера предоставления государством своим гражданам благ государственного управления (governance) в 22 странах Средиземноморского региона. Использованы данные по средиземноморским государствам – членам ЕС, странам, не входящим в ЕС, и странам вне средиземноморской зоны. Исследуется влияние партийной состязательности, благосостояния страны и ее размеров на «верховенство закона».

Abstract. The article evaluates how the 22 countries that border the Mediterranean Sea vary in country goverance, as measured by the World Bank indicator, Rule of Law. It compares the Mediterranean countries in the EU with non-EU countries and with other EU countries that do not border on the Mediterranean. After finding substantial differences in the countries' scores, it assesses the effects of country size, wealth, and party competition on Rule of Law.

Ключевые слова: governance6, верховенство закона, средиземноморские страны, политическая конкуренция, Европейский союз, партийные системы.

Keywords:

governance, rule of law, Mediterranean countries, political competition, European Union, party systems.

The ancient Romans believed that the sea on which they sailed was at the middle of their world, hence they named it, «mediterraneus». Today’s Mediterranean Sea merely separates Europe from Africa. It is surrounded by 21 countries that vary in area (from tiny Monaco, with 2 square kilometers, to Algeria, with over 2 million square kilometers) and by population (from Monaco’s 30,000+ residents to Egypt’s 85 million people). Figure 1 displays the regions and the countries. Although Portugal does not border on the sea, many scholars regard it as a Mediterranean country7 (16). Including Portugal increases the count to 22.

Figure 1.21 Countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea

In July 2013, nine countries on the northern border of the Mediterranean belonged to the European Union (EU), an economic and political union of 28 member states. Four other countries, however, were «on the road to EU membership» – according to the EU web site8 (1). Monaco was the only country on the sea’s northern rim not in the EU nor poised to join it. The remaining eight Mediterranean countries – all on the eastern and southern borders of the sea – are virtually certain to remain outside the EU. Table 1 lists all 22 Mediterranean countries according to their EU status:

Table 1

List of 22 Mediterranean countries and European Union status

If, as the Romans thought, the Mediterranean lies at the middle of this area, the social division is uneven. The European countries in the half above the sea differ greatly from the African countries in the half below – both economically and politically. This difference, obvious to casual political observers, is of great concern to the European Union and to its supporters and allied organizations. A GO-EuroMed consortium of scholars focused on «the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership in the context of EU efforts to improve governance throughout its neighbourhood» (14). Their concern appeared in a 2006 report: The European Union’s 2004 enlargement and the aftermath of September 11, 2001 have profoundly altered Europe's strategic position within its neighbourhood. New countries have become neighbors, while the challenges posed by regional instability have raised the stakes for EU foreign policy initiatives. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the EU relations with its Mediterranean neighbours (2).