The European Union, currently, is considered as an important international actor. The Arab upheavals (widely known as the Arab Spring), which started in the end of 2010 with the social unrest against the totalitarian regime in Libya and spread throughout the Middle Eastern countries which have also been governed by undemocratic means, has become one of the top issues in international relations and it surely affects the EU since the change is taking place in the EU’s -neighbourhood. The research question of this paper is whether there is a capability-expectations gap in the EU’s CFSP regarding its approach towards the issue of the Arab upheavals. The aim of this study is to shed light to the EU policies towards the region, specifically towards the countries which experienced the chaos and revolutions and to assess whether there is a capability-expectations gap in the CFSP in this regard.
