The European Union, Lebanon, and the Syrian refugees

  • Javier Lion Bustillo Universidad Complutense de Madrid
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-65-2021pp107-131
Keywords: Lebanon, refugees, Common Foreign and Security Policy, European Union, area of freedom, security and justice

Abstract

The purpose of this article consists of assessing the coherence of the European Union external action between its relations with Lebanon and its policy towards the Syrian refugees. With this objective, I will contrast the objectives of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and those of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The former is aimed at promoting stability in Lebanon and spreading to that country the European views of democracy, human rights and good governance. The latter wants the refugees to remain in neighbouring countries (like Lebanon) and prevent their arrival into Europe. The results of this work highlight that the presence of such a high number of refugees in a country with very limited resources, a clientelist and inefficient public administration, and an unstable political system is leading to open tensions that will grow if those refugees remain in Lebanon indefinitely. Therefore, the obsession for treating the refugees as a security threat is weakening the coherence of the EU external action and undermining the achievement of other objectives.

Received: 18 November 2020
Accepted: 4 May 2021

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Author Biography

Javier Lion Bustillo, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Currently Lecturer at the Department of Political History, Theories and Geography (University Complutense of Madrid). Previously, he was Part-time Lecturer in International Relations at the Pontifical University of Comillas/ICADE (Madrid, Spain). He holds a PhD in History from the University of Cádiz (Spain) and a MA in Politics and Government in the EU from the London School of Economics. Visiting researcher at Saarland University (Germany) and the London School of Economics. Visiting professor at the Department of International Relations (University of Coimbra, Portugal). His research is focused on the fields of History of International Relations, European integration, EU Mediterranean Policy, peace and conflict studies. He has written articles for publications like Historia y Política, Revista de Estudios Políticos and Revista Española de Ciencia Política. He is also the author of the book La Comunidad Europea y la unificación alemana.

Published
2021-09-23
How to Cite
Lion Bustillo, Javier. 2021. “The European Union, Lebanon, and the Syrian Refugees”. Deusto Journal of European Studies, no. 65 (September), 107-31. https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-65-2021pp107-131.
Issue
No. 65 (2021)
Section
Articles

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