The European Union as a catalyst for conflict resolution: lessons from Cyprus on the limits of conditionality

The role of the European Union as a catalyst for conflict transformation and resolution has become a major area of interest for scholars in recent years. However, the catalytic effect, while accepted as a real phenomenon, is nevertheless rather nebulous and ill-defined. As a result, efforts are now being made to define the precise nature of the catalytic effect, examine its limitations and explore the ways in which it can be strengthened. One approach to enhance its effect is to try to incorporate some form of conditionality into the process. In order to explore this idea more fully, this article examines the case of Cyprus, which is a prominent recent example of the way in which the EU can help to create the conditions conflict resolution. But while Cyprus highlights that strength of the catalytic effect, it also provided a graphic illustration of the multitude of difficulties associated with trying to enhance the effect by formally incorporating an element of associated conditionality into the process.