A comprehensive study of the nexus between democratization and security in the Mediterranean, which are seen as essentially complementary yet threatened by political trends witnessed since the September 2001 attacks. Contributors from a variety of European and Mediterranean countries address the impact of a restructured security system, Europe's effort to establish an autonomous security and defence policy, and attempts among the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) to build regional security regimes.

Recent efforts by the United States and its allies to promote democracy, security, and stability in the Middle East owe much to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) – also known as the Barcelona Process – an important region-building plan in the Mediterranean region since 1995. The Convergence of Civilizations represents the output of an innovative and much needed collaborative project focused on the EMP. Editors Emanuel Adler, Beverly Crawford, Federica Bicchi, and Rafaella A. Del Sarto have set out to show that regional security and stability may be achieved through a cultural approach based on the concept of regional identity construction, and aim to take stock of the EMP in relation to this goal. The contributors to this collection focus on the obstacles Mediterranean region construction faces due to post 9/11 regional and global events, the difficulties of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tensions between the EU and the US over Iraq, and the expected consequences of EU enlargement. They also seek to bring the EMP and region-making practices to the attention of American scholars in order to promote a more fertile academic exchange. Ultimately, the contributors demonstrate that the EMP and related region-making practices, while failing so far to promote the development of a Mediterranean regional identity and to achieve regional stability, suggest nonetheless a viable model for regional partnership and cooperation, and thus, for preventing a 'clash of civilizations' in the long haul. The Convergence of Civilizations will be an important tool for meeting the current global challenges being faced by nation-states as well as those in the future.

The ’Arab Spring’ triggered paradigmatic shifts but, despite these changes, much in the Euro-Mediterranean region remains the same. Utilising ’Logics of Action’, an innovative theoretical framework designed to capture the complexity of political interaction in one of the fastest changing regions in the world, this book discusses developments in the region before and after the Arab Spring that can be characterised by a continuation of the norm. Expert contributors identify patterns of interaction between governmental institutions, economic entrepreneurs, religious groups and other diverse actors that withstood these historical changes and explore why these relationships have proved so robust. Connecting a unique sample of case studies on changing and persistent ’Logics of Action’ within the Euro-Mediterranean space this book provides a pivotal contribution to our understanding of political interaction between North Africa, the Middle East and the European Union. Offering a completely new perspective on the events of the ’Arab Spring’ it identifies something that seems paradoxical at first sight; persistence in times of radical change.

The purpose of the book is to ascertain whether there is a generic impact that ‘religion’ brings to bear on recent political changes in the modern world. Over the last two decades or so, there have been increasing numbers of political issues with which various manifestations of religion engage. This impact is not restricted exclusively to countries in the ‘developed’ or ‘developing’ world. Instead, we seem to be seeing a widespread impact of religion on politics which defies earlier assumptions about secularisation. This presumed that the more ‘modern’ a country is then the less likely it is that religion will play a significant political role. Recent evidence is, however, firmly to the contrary: the degree of ‘modernity’ in a country does not correspond well with the amount of ‘religiosity’ in a country, nor with the role that religion can play in politics. The book focuses on the recent return of religion to politics. It assesses how religion is involved in recent examples of political change in various countries, including the impact of religion on democratization. The book features both theoretical chapters and case studies. The case studies examine different countries (Israel, Egypt, Morocco, and Iran) and regions (Sub-Saharan Africa), with a focus on Islam, Judaism and Protestantism and Catholicism. The overall aim is to get a sense of what is happening when religion and politics interact. The chapters in this book were originally published in Democratization.

This book investigates how migration has been transformed into a security threat in Europe. It argues that this process has taken place through a self-fulfilling spiralling process, which involves different actors and their specific narratives, practices and policies. The book examines how situations stemming from the so-called ‘migration crisis’ in the European Union (EU) have been dealt with by governments and non-governmental organisations. It also considers how actors treating migration as an ordinary phenomenon rather than a threat and sharing inclusive narratives can create the conditions for decelerating and eventually stopping securitisation processes. Some chapters examine the spiralling of the securitisation of migration in depth, by analysing increases in securitisation, as well as cases characterised by resistance. Others focus on examining the consequences of socially constructing migration as a crisis for the EU’s relations with third countries. In sum, this book shows that there is a wide range of motives for which states and societies would benefit from a change in migration politics and move from the current management of a ‘crisis’ to a more positive governance of human mobility. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of sociology, politics, international relations, social and cultural anthropology, human geography, and social work. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

The ’Arab Spring’ triggered paradigmatic shifts but, despite these changes, much in the Euro-Mediterranean region remains the same. Utilising ’Logics of Action’, an innovative theoretical framework designed to capture the complexity of political interaction in one of the fastest changing regions in the world, this book discusses developments in the region before and after the Arab Spring that can be characterised by a continuation of the norm. Expert contributors identify patterns of interaction between governmental institutions, economic entrepreneurs, religious groups and other diverse actors that withstood these historical changes and explore why these relationships have proved so robust. Connecting a unique sample of case studies on changing and persistent ’Logics of Action’ within the Euro-Mediterranean space this book provides a pivotal contribution to our understanding of political interaction between North Africa, the Middle East and the European Union. Offering a completely new perspective on the events of the ’Arab Spring’ it identifies something that seems paradoxical at first sight; persistence in times of radical change.