Security dynamics in the Euro-Mediterranean area : towards a new era of relations

Abstract

The winds of change that have swept across the southern shores of the Mediterranean in 2011, have resulted in a fundamental geopolitical paradigm shift, that will result in a completely different political landscape in this region of the world. The grass roots revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria to date, as well as rumblings elsewhere in the Arab world, offer us a glimpse of the immediate urgency to address the challenge of political paralysis and economic deprivation, common throughout the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The Arab street has spoken. Either their legitimate demands are gradually met by serious action, or an orderly transition will soon give way to a more chaotic, if not anarchic, future.