아프리카ㆍ중동

This article explores how Algerian foreign policy toward the European Union has changed since the Arab Spring. Existing research related to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership has mainly focused on whether the Middle Eastern and North African states could comply with EU-demanded democratic reforms. However, their Mediterranean partners’ interests should correspondingly be analyzed. In the case of Algeria, President Bouteflika’s authoritarian regime attempted to mend fences with the EU in order to clear Algeria’s reputation as a rogue state. But as Algeria is one of the largest oil-rich countries in Africa, it does not need to depend on financial assistance from the EU, and it gave a tepid response to the regional cooperation led by France, which colonized Algeria for 130 years. Since the Arab Spring, the regional security order in North Africa has broken down, and Algerian foreign policy has changed, especially after Islamic extremist terrorism and the Mali Civil War. In this context, this article shows that the effects of Algeria’s colonial history and its oil-rentier economy have decreased and that the importance of regional security has heightened the necessity of cooperation between Algeria and the EU.