Why is Israel not in the EU?

This bachelor thesis considers Israel's potential membership in the EU. The hypothesis is that the EU and Israel share a common interest in regards to Israeli membership. Yet, national states within the EU would block Israeli requests because of ideological bias. The first part of the thesis describes the attitudes of Israeli politicians and of the public in regard to entry to the EU. Then, I will illustrate the wide economic, security and research cooperation between the EU and Israel. The second part illustrates the attitudes of european politicians of all stripes. Lastly, I will describe the strategic interest of the EU on Israeli membership. The research question asks, simply, why Israel is not in the EU. The answer is divided into two parts. One part analyses legal documentation from the EU in order to prove that, on a legislative level, Israeli membership does not face any significant obstacles. The second part attempts to prove that in terms of national states there is an opposition strong enough to stop such an initiative. The work combines two theoretical approaches: liberalism and neorealism. Liberalism argues in favour of mutual cooperation. Neorealism explains why such cooperation has no chance of fulfilment. The research includes content and discourse analysis of statements made by..