Securing the Market, Pacifying Civil Society, Empowering Women: The Middle East Partnership Initiative

The "Middle East Partnership Initiative" (MEPI) is now the main framework for U.S. soft interventions in the Middle East. Established by the Republican administration in 2003, this program follows a rationale of political and economic reforms as a means to uproot terrorism and spread democracy. This article offers a content analysis of this program by questioning the assumptions behind the MEPI's focus on "civil society" and "women's empowerment" and by showing their significance to neoliberal regimes of pacification and securitization.