Staying safe by being good? The EU's normative decline as a security actor in the Middle East

Abstract The European Union's cooperation with Middle Eastern regimes to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism has received increased scholarly attention following several terrorist attacks in Europe the last decade. Despite EU's emphasis on good governance, democracy, human rights East North Africa (MENA), I argue that Union is fact declining as a ‘normative power’ it prioritised ‘security first’ centred approach. This article demonstrates how normative projects have, first, appropriated logic of securitisation; second, downplays democracy governance fear alienating authoritarian key partners region. There are consequently inherent limitations to, contradictions in, Counter-Terrorism (CT) Preventing Violent Extremism (PvE) efforts. These conclusions based interviews EU representatives implementing ground. complemented by an analysis scope focus CT PvE projects. findings have implications for our understanding powers’ priorities when facing perceived dilemma choosing between its security, one hand, identity value aspirations, other.