# American University of Beirut

**Source**: https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Pages/SHAPDEM-EU-Project.aspx
**Parent**: https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Pages/regional-and-international-affairs.aspx

## SHAPDEM-EU Project

Page Content

​​​​​​\
\

### Overview

SHAPEDEM-EU – Rethinking and Reshaping the EU's democracy support in its Eastern and Southern Neighborhood – is a multi-national and multifaceted research consortium of twelve academic, think tank and civil society institutions based in Europe and the Southern and Eastern neighborhoods, one of which is IFI. This EU-funded three-year project sets out to rethink, reshape, and review the EU's democracy support policies in its Neighborhood countries. The project's first phase reconceptualizes and provides clear definitions for EU democracy and democracy support as social practicesthat engender contestation at all levels. In its second phase, the project empirically maps democracy support and contestation practices (discursive and behavioral) in the European southern and eastern neighborhoods. In the final phase, the project connects researchers, policymakers in EU institutions and member states, practitioners, civil society representatives and citizen groups in the EU and its Neighborhoods in order to promote action. It synthesizes the overall project analysis and provides policy recommendation.

Within the scope of the SHAPEDEM-EU project, and working closely with all the partners, IFI seeks to critically engage with EU practices, power dynamics and discourses of democracy support in the Arab world, particularly over the last decade. It will consider three main case studies, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia; and focus on the EU's role and programs there with their multiple and (often) contradictory meanings and diverse impacts at the local level. IFI will map and analyze local struggles and voices in these three case studies, as well as 'gate-keepers' that mediate interrelations with the EU and their practices of adaptation and resistance to EU democracy support practices. It considers the EU not as an impartial actor but rather one with specific interests that sometimes support democratic practices in the Arab region and other times suppress them. The IFI team will also explore mechanisms for a more effective and inclusive democracy learning loop to ensure closer interrelationships between the local visions/local ownership and the EU to improve tools to support practices of democracy in the target countries.\
\

For more on the project, visit the SHAPEDEM-EU [website](https://shapedem-eu.eu/ "https://shapedem-eu.eu/"), and follow the project's latest on [X​](https://x.com/SHAPEDEM_EU) and [LinkedIn​](https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/shapedem-eu/)​.\

### Project Expected Outputs

- Synthesis paper on the chronology of EU-Arab engagement and cluster of thematic contextual papers on EU-Arab relations
- Country case studies detailing local democratic politics, including in Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia
- Series of roundtables and policy dialogues with national stakeholders and senior EU representatives to discuss policy challenges and 'gate-keepers' who mediate between local voices and EU institutional actors\
- Course module on the EU-Arab world history and relations\

\

### Latest Outputs - ​Country case studies detailing local democratic politics, including in Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. **​**Read the executive summaries via the links below:

1. ​[EU Democracy Support to Lebanon: Towards an Understanding of Local Voices and Contestation​](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/shapedem-executive-summary-lebanon.pdf)\
   \
2. [Tunisia’s Democratic Transition: the EU’s Engagement and Local Politics](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/shapedem-executive-summary-tunisia.pdf)\
   \
3. [Forestalling Statehood: EU Financial Support for Democracy Building in Palestine](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/shapedem-executive-summary-palestine.pdf)

### SHAPEDEM-EU Activities and Highlights

- [Democracy Support Dialogues Podcast](https://x.com/ifi_aub/status/1779854084482183194?s=46&t=QyzoILUnlFfTnNGKP83AMQ)\
  \
- Participation in the e[xpert debate on the Israel-Hamas ​conflict](https://x.com/SHAPEDEM_EU/status/1785292747563262279)
- [​Participation at SHAPEDEM EU’s 2nd Annual Progress Meeting, on the EU’s stance on Ukraine and Palestine​​](https://x.com/ifi_aub/status/1844775921993089366?s=46&t=QyzoILUnlFfTnNGKP83AMQ)\
- [Focus group series 1: Unpacking how EU democracy promotion is perceived and contested by local actors in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Palestine](https://x.com/ifi_aub/status/1777278906204066118)\
- [Focus group series 2: Unpacking how EU democracy promotion is perceived and contested by local actors in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Palestine](https://x.com/ifi_aub/status/1790692280782778509)\
  \
- [​IFI Newsletter: April-May 2024​](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/IFI_Newsletter_April-May_2024.pdf)\
  \

- ​[​IFI Newsletter: February-March 2024​](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/IFI-Newsletter-February-March-2024.pdf)\
  \

[- ​2025 Institute Highlights​​

​\](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/2025-INSTITUTE-HIGHLIGHTS.pdf)

\

### ​Related Activities and Publications

- [A Three-Dimensional Perspective on EU Policy Towards Lebanon](https://www.aub.edu.lb/ifi/Documents/A-Three-Dimensional-Perspective-on-EU-Policytowards-Lebanon.pdf)​\
  Bertille Lietar​ / ​​Yeghia Tashjian​\
  September 2024​\
  \
- ​[Talk on: "EU in Lebanon: Policies and Programs​"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HkDPL6OJWM)\

### Contact Persons

Karim Makdisi, Principal Investigator (PI); [**km18@aub.edu.lb**](mailto:km18@aub.edu.lb)​ **​**

​\
\
​\
​\
​\
\