Security through trust-building in the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation: two perspectives for the partnership

Abstract

Trust-building creates puzzles for analysts in relation to what kind of trust is built in world politics, between whom, and to what end. This article studies two types of trust in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: rationalist trust which characterizes inter-state cooperation to protect order and cosmopolitan trust which reveals the emancipatory potential of political structures that aim to achieve more security for individuals. In this study, two types of trust will be illustrated in the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation by analyzing the link between security and trust. It is argued that while rationalist trust between states with 'security as order' rationality reconstructs the status quo in North African countries, cosmopolitan trust with 'security as emancipation' rationality toward North African individuals has the potential to transform these countries' political structures.