Vanda Amaro Dias* 1 A Critical Analysis of the EU’s Response to the Arab Spring and its Implications for EU Security Abstract This paper aims at critically analyzing the European Union (EU)’s response to the so-called Arab Spring, focusing on the security dimension. The tumultuous events that have been taken place in the Southern Mediterranean since late 2010 were perceived in the EU as a serious security challenge to its foreign and neighbourhood policies. Recognizing the shortcomings of both the European Neighbouring Policy and the Union for the Mediterranean in contributing to peace and security in the region, the EU has adopted several measures – including a review of the European Neighbourhood Policy – acknowledging the need to offer more benefits to the EU’s southern neighbours, and support the processes of political, economic and social transformation in the region. However, the EU’s response to the events is often portrait in a seemingly erratic fashion, suggesting that the Union has to adopt a more coherent and pragmatic approach towards the region in order to assure peace and stability at its borders: the ultimate goal of its foreign and neighbourhood policies. In * Vanda Amaro Dias is a Ph.D. candidate in International Politics and Conflict Resolution at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra, and a Marie Curie Fellow at the Institute of International Law and International Relations, University of Graz. She received her M.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the Nova University of Lisbon and her B.A from the same institution. Her research interests include EU Foreign and Neighbouring Policies, European Security, Russia and the former Soviet Space. She has participated as a speaker in several international conferences and her research has been published in peer-review journals such as European Security and Perspectives on European Society and Politics. E-mail: vandadias@ces.uc.pt.