Bøker av Anders Persson

'Anders Persson has provided an indispensable resource chronicling the evolution of European policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past fifty years. His in-depth research recounts the EU's quest to become a 'player' in Middle East peacemaking, documenting the challenges and missed opportunities it has encountered along with the way.'Hugh Lovatt, European Council on Foreign RelationsA historical overview of the European Union's fifty year involvement in the Israeli-Arab conflictNearly fifty years since the European Community's Foreign Ministers issued their first declaration on the conflict between Israel and her neighbours in 1971, the EU continues to have close political and economic ties with the region. Based exclusively on primary sources, this book offers an up-to-date overview of the EU's involvement in the Israeli-Arab conflict since 1967. It utilises an innovative methodology to analyse keyword frequency in a sample of more than 2,500 declarations and statements published in the Bulletin of the European Communities/European Union (1967-2009), as well as council reports and press interviews (2009-19), to uncover broad patterns for qualitative analysis. The outcomes suggest that the Israeli-Arab conflict is more important to the EU than any other conflict, having been central to shaping the EU's foreign policy overall.Key features. Provides a historical overview with chronologically organised chapters for a quick reference of the EU's position on specific events. Covers recent events that contributed to the fragmentation of the EU's policy vis-à-vis the conflict, such as the election of Donald Trump, Brexit, and the rise of various right-wing, nationalist or populist parties and governments in Europe. Introduces an innovative methodology applicable to similar studies of the Bulletin that trace other aspects of EU policy. Includes an annotated selection of key EC/EU statements on the Israeli-Arab conflictAnders Persson is a political scientist and part of the research environment European Studies at Linnaeus University, Sweden.Cover image: photo by the author. Israeli settlement of Itamar, northern West Bank, June 2018.Cover design:[EUP logo]edinburghuniversitypress.comISBN 978-1-4744-7472-6Barcode

Just peace has been much talked about in everyday life, but it is less well researched by academics. The rationale of this book is therefore to probe what constitutes a just peace, both conceptually within the field of peacebuilding and empirically in the context of the EU as a peacebuilder in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The EU has used the term just peace in many of its most important declarations on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict throughout the years. Defining a just peace is about these declaratory efforts by the EU to articulate a common formula of a just peace in the conflict. Securing and building a just peace are about the EU's role in implementing this formula for a just peace in the conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state. As the EU enters its fifth decade of involvement in the conflict, there can be little doubt that in common with the rest of the international community it has failed in its efforts to establish a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. While this is an inescapable overall conclusion from four decades of EC/EU peacebuilding in the conflict, it is, at the same time, possible to draw a number of other conclusions from this book. Most importantly, it argues that the EU is a major legitimizing power in the conflict and that it has kept the prospects of a two-state solution alive through its support for the Palestinian statebuilding process.