The European Union’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria

Abstract

The aim of the article is a political science analysis of the European Union’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. The following research hypotheses will be verified in the publication. Firstly, the European Union functions in an environment of dynamic changes that determine its decisions and actions, which take place on many levels of social life and at the same time on many levels. The European Union’s actions in relation to the humanitarian crisis in Syria are determined by two main variables. The first one occurs at the international level – in this case, with a distinction between the level of the regional system – and combines the effects of the end of the Cold War and globalization processes, i.e. functional and structural elements. It is the hybrid war in Syria. The second variable, unprecedented in its scale, migratory pressure takes place at the level of the interior of the Member States. Secondly, following the hybrid war in Syria and the activity of the so-called Islamic State, the migratory pressure that the European Union began to experience became a threat to its liberal model as well as its internal cohesion. Therefore, by engaging in humanitarian aid for Syria, the European Union wants to prevent a serious crisis within its own structures. A methodological assumption was made according to which the phenomena and processes in the environment of the European Union functioning on many levels are independent variables, while its decisions and actions are dependent variables. In the context of the formulated research hypotheses, the subject of the analysis in the article is, firstly, to define the essence and dynamics of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Secondly, the identification and analysis of the determinants of that crisis. Third, to show the actions of the European Union in the face of the humanitarian crisis in Syria.