Wow! eBook
Mediterranean Frontiers: Borders, Conflict and Memory in a Transnational World: v. 46
Author(s): Dimitar Bechev (Author), Kalypso Nicolaïdis (Author)
- Publisher: I.B. Tauris
- Publication Date: 5 Jan. 2010
- Language: English
- Print length: 264 pages
- ISBN-10: 1848851251
- ISBN-13: 9781848851252
Book Description
The identity of any nation-state is inextricably linked with its borders and frontiers. Borders connect nations and sustain notions of social cohesion. Yet they are also the sites of division, fragmentation and political conflict. This ambitious study encompasses North Africa, the Middle East, and South and South East Europe to examine the emergence of state borders and polarised identities in the Mediterranean. The authors look at the impact of political boundaries upon the region, along with pressures from European and economic integration, the resurgence of nationalism, and refugee and security concerns. The authors explore the politics of memory, and ask whether echoes from the imperial past – Ottoman and colonial – could provide the basis for conflict resolution, region-building and economic integration.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This book assembles a remarkable group of scholars who together set the study of the Mediterranean in exciting new directions. The contributors tackle the Mediterranean in all its complexity and give equal weight to all its shores. Among the frontiers under consideration, it is the Mediterranean itself that unites Europe, the Middle East and North Africa as a common space of trade, migration and culture. As issues of regional integration grow in importance, this volume will prove essential reading for policy makers and academics alike. ― Eugene Rogan, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK
The book contains a significant political discussion about the EU’s role in the Mediterranean as well as on region-building as a way of conflict resolution. Whereas most of the existing literature is policy-oriented, a volume which looks at the deeper dynamics of borders and conflicts around the Sea is something to be welcome. The book has an underlying theme[:] that the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership’s North-South approach was flawed from the beginning, because it ignored deep-seated differences in cultural values and interpretations of the past among neighbouring Mediterranean countries, be they members or non-members of the EU. ―
Alfred Tovias, Department of International Relations, Hebrew Alfred Tovias, Department of International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IsraelAbout the Author
Kalypso Nicolaidis is Professor of International Relations and Director of the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford. Dimitar Bechev is a Research Fellow at the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
