Managing security challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean area

Abstract

Throughout history the Mediterranean has continuously been at the centre of international relations. The end of the Cold War led some pundits to believe that the Mediterranean would be marginalized in global relations. The enlargement of the European Union towards the east, the rise of China in Asia and the emergence of India and Brazil as leading economic developing countries further cemented this perception. Yet the process of globalization has not shifted international attention away from the Mediterranean. Three decades since the end of the Cold War it is clear that the Mediterranean remains an essential strategic theatre of operation linking Europe, North Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and the Black Sea together. Anyone questioning the strategic relevance of the Mediterranean in contemporary international relations must be careful not to confuse the rise of China and the Asia Pacific in general with a diminishment of the Euro-Mediterranean sphere of influence. While the East-West dynamic pattern of relations and the North-South dynamic pattern of relations continue to shift in different directions, the physical importance of the Mediterranean as a geo-strategic waterway remains a constant.