https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46207 2026-04-11T10:06:05Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46452 Title: From regime security to human security : Arab spring and security sector reform Abstract: On 17th June 2011, in response to the Arab Spring events in neighbouring countries, King Mohamed VI of Morocco presented in a speech, reform proposals focusing on constitutional changes. Significantly, in his speech the King insisted that appointments in the military ‘remain an exclusive, sovereign prerogative of the King, Supreme Commander and Chief-of-Staff of the Royal Armed Forces’, while officials in charge of inter alia domestic security agencies will be appointed by him on a proposal of the Head of Government and at the initiative of the ministers concerned. Thus, Morocco’s ruler, who has pursued domestic reforms in the past, and has been hailed for his response to the unrest, stopped short of establishing democratic control of the security sector. This lack of willingness to touch upon the role and powers of the security sector is symptomatic of the regimes of countries in North Africa, that have traditionally relied on the security sector, in particular the military, the police and secret and intelligence services, to shore up their authoritarian or semi-authoritarian rule, and that have focused on regime security rather than human security. 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46377 Title: Human rights and the Arab spring : some preliminary reflections Abstract: The human rights situation on the southern Mediterranean littoral was for the past forty years characterized by paralysis and the received wisdom has been that there could be no change. This aura of stasis was defined by a number of factors including:(i) a perception that human rights were a Western concept, a perception fortified by the presentation of the human rights agenda as ‘foreign interference’ by certain secular and religious authorities; (ii) a suggestion that, in some ways, a number of human rights principles were incompatible with the dominant religion in the region; (iii) seemingly unassailable authoritarian leaders whose power was rooted in control of the military, the power of patronage as well as tacit or explicit support from the USA, the EU or, in the case of certain countries in the Levantine rim of the Mediterranean, Iran; and (iv) a general climate of instability due to the perpetuation of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and related tensions. 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46238 Title: Arab revolutions and armed forces : between openness and resistance Authors: Lutterbeck, Derek Abstract: As popular uprisings, demanding greater political freedoms and in several countries even regime change, swept across much of the Arab world, a crucial role has been played by the armed forces of these countries in confronting the pro-reform movements. Practically all Arab countries can be described as military-based regimes, where the armed forces have been at the core of the political system, even though the status of the armed forces has varied significantly from one country to the next. Moreover, powerful militaries, as well as a robust security apparatus more generally, have been seen by many, as one, if not the main, obstacle to political reform and democratization in the region. 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46209 Title: Security dynamics in the Euro-Mediterranean area : towards a new era of relations Abstract: The winds of change that have swept across the southern shores of the Mediterranean in 2011, have resulted in a fundamental geopolitical paradigm shift, that will result in a completely different political landscape in this region of the world. The grass roots revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria to date, as well as rumblings elsewhere in the Arab world, offer us a glimpse of the immediate urgency to address the challenge of political paralysis and economic deprivation, common throughout the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The Arab street has spoken. Either their legitimate demands are gradually met by serious action, or an orderly transition will soon give way to a more chaotic, if not anarchic, future. Description: This document contains Table of Contents and Foreword by Dr. Joe Borg, MEDAC Chairman 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z