EU security practices in the Mediterranean region, Redux?

Migration, visa, readmission agreements, data protection or counter-terrorism are today at the heart of EU external relations. Over the last decade, and until the 2011 Arab revolutions, this external dimension of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) has been particularly prominent in the EU security practices towards the Mediterranean.  Drawing from previous research, this article explains that the development of JHA in the Mediterranean has been dependent on state preferences and historical legacies, following a rational-choice-historical institutionalist approach. The paper pursues this analysis and tests whether the Arab revolts constitute a critical juncture whereby EU’s security practices in the Mediterranean could be altered.   The paper concludes that path-dependency and self-reinforcing patterns characterize EU security practices post-Arab spring. Signs of reactive sequencing are nonetheless identifiable in the EU strategy for security and development