The Mediterranean-security turnstile: an overview from the Barcelona Process to the Union for the Mediterranean. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 9, No. 3, February 2009

Boening, Astrid B. (2009) The Mediterranean-security turnstile: an overview from the Barcelona Process to the Union for the Mediterranean. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 9, No. 3, February 2009. [Working Paper]

PDF Download (419Kb)

Abstract

This paper seeks to expand the theoretical concept of a Middle Eastern Regional Security Complex (MERSC) (Buzan and Waever 2004), based on the literature (e.g. on security, regional integration, development and global governance) towards a Euro-Mediterranean Regional Security Complex(EMRSC). The center of an EMRSC lies in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean1, rather than in the Middle East, as Buzan and Waever (Ibid., map) proposed. While some authors have pointed to the hesitance of the southern Mediterranean towards the north, regional economic integration is not new to the Mediterranean, but was present extensively e.g. between the ancient Venetian traders and the Middle East for over two millennia, prevailing economically when political and military harmony had ceased (Spence 2007). This paper suggests that the member states of the Union for the Mediterranean (UMed), as the successor program of the EuroMed Partnership (EMP) (also referred to as the Barcelona Process), have reached a proactive commitment to a broader framework for national development and reform programs (Wurzel 203, 8) in the greater interregional context of the Euro-Mediterranean, addressing those goals which were not achieved in many security sectors and levels (Buzan and Waever 2003) within its predecessor program, the EMP.

Actions (login required)