RULE OF LAW IN THE SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN. FROM JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE TO EFFICIENCY: AN INTERNAL-EXTERNAL EXPLANATORY APPROACH OF EU JUDICIAL SUPPORT IN MOROCCO AND JORDAN.

As the crisis of 2011, known as the Arab Spring, broke out, two monarchies in the region, Morocco and Jordan, faced the need to reform their judicial systems in order to preserve stability by means of constitutional reforms that would deliver both countries from poor guarantees of judicial independence and lack of transparency or efficiency. This research thesis will analyse the external and internal dynamics of judicial reforms adopted in Morocco and Jordan since 2011. In particular, we have chosen an important empirical field where the two most similar countries receiving external support to judicial reforms show a variation on the judicial systemic level. This variation is still unexplored and our knowledge of the dynamics of domestic veto players and external support to the judiciary could be further enhanced through comparative analysis of two most similar cases using a Most Similar Systems Design (Mill 1882).

The European Union (EU) has, since the outset of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, developed instruments of foreign policy that promote and support democracy in countries of the Southern Neighbourhood. These programmes specifically address rule of law and the judiciary in order to support the strengthening of judicial independence and the enhancement of the efficiency of the courts.