At Europe's Edge by
The Mediterranean Sea is now the deadliest region in the world for migrants. Although the death toll has been rising for many years, the EU response remains fragmented and short sighted. Politicians frame these migration flows as an unprecedented crisis and emphasize migration control at the EU's external boundaries. In this context, At Europe's Edge investigates why the EU prioritizes the fortification of its external borders; why migrants nevertheless continue to cross the Mediterranean and to die at sea; and how EU member states on the southern periphery respond to their new role as migration gatekeepers. The book addresses these questions by examining the relationship between the EU and Malta, a small state with an outsized role in migration politics as EU policies place it at the crosshairs of migration flows and controls. The chapters combine ethnographic methods with macro-level analyses to weave together policymaker, practitioner, and migrant experiences, and demonstrate how the Mediterranean is an important space for the contested construction of 'Europe'. This book provides rich insight into the unexpected level of influence Malta exerts on EU migration governance, as well as the critical role migrants and their clandestine journeys play in animating EU and Maltese migration policies, driving international relations, and producing Malta's political power. By centring on the margins, the book pushes the boundaries of our knowledge of the global politics of migration, asylum, and border security.
Mediterranean Migration and the Labour Markets by
This book focuses on issues that are relevant for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The depth and the extension of the current political crisis in the area have changed the perspectives of conventional Euro-Mediterranean integration policies. The book provides the grounds for new patterns of analysis and addresses policy guidelines which are able to respond to the dramatic challenges that Mediterranean regions are facing. By implementing a multidisciplinary approach, the volume uncovers the structural determinants of migrations in the area: territorial and social imbalances, climate change, unemployment, weak institutions, poor governance, lack of efficient redistributive policies. Each chapter proposes innovative and rich analyses of the socio-economic conditions of all Mediterranean countries. The prevailing evidence suggests that while the North-South imbalances still persist inside the basin, the recent world economic and financial crises have deepened social, intergenerational and gender inequalities. These inequalities cross all territories both nationally and internationally and affect the living conditions of large segments of population in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. To bridge these gaps it is necessary to strengthen territorial cohesion, reduce income differentials, and improve the access of marginal areas to basic infrastructure. These long term goals can be achieved through an inclusive development model for which young people and women can enjoy the same opportunities of education and work. Offering innovative and practical guidelines for future programs and policies, this book is essential reading for policy makers, researchers at policy think tanks as well as academics and post graduate students of Mediterranean studies and Economic Policy. The general policy recipes, provided to govern migration flows, make useful reading for national and international research centres and major governmental agencies interested in migration issues.
Migration, Mobilities and the Arab Spring by
Confronting questions of globalization, mobilities and space in the Mediterranean, and more specifically in the eastern Mediterranean, this book introduces a new type of complexity and ambiguity to the study of the global. In this theoretical frame an increasingly urban articulation of global logics and struggles, and an escalating use of urban space to make political claims, not only by citizens but also by foreigners, can be found. By emphasizing the interplay between global, regional and local phenomena, the book examines new forms and conditions, such as the transformation of borders, the reconfiguration of transnational communities, the agency of transnational families, new mobilities and diasporas, and transnational networks of humanitarian response. The contributions from a variety of disciplines demonstrate that the reconfiguration of mobilities and the accompanying problem of inhospitable politics towards refugees at different levels, as well as humanitarian responses to it, is one of the major impacts, globally speaking, of the Arab Spring. Through the reconfiguration of such new mobilities there is an urgency to properly map the space of the many trajectories of those transnational connections. The editor concludes that there is, however, great difficulty in doing so as it is constantly disconnected by new arrivals, constantly waiting to be determined by the configuration and reconfiguration of both historical and contemporary relations. This exploration of migration, mobilities and the Arab Spring, is essential reading for scholars across a multitude of disciplines. The book's themes are of major interest and importance for policymakers and administrators at national and international levels. Contributors include:H. Afailal, R. Al Akash, C. Beaugrand, K. Boswall, C. Denaro, K. Doraï, V. Geisser, L. Navone, N. Ribas-Mateos, S. Sassen, S. Schmelter, C.H. Schwarz
Understanding Migrant Decisions by
Examining how changing conditions in the Mediterranean Region have affected the decisions of those considering migrating from Sub-Saharan Africa to or through the Region, this book represents an important and overdue contribution to international policy-making and academic discourse. In current discussions relating to this migration phenomenon, the complexity of individual decision-making is often left unacknowledged, so that subsequent policy responses draw upon simplified models. In this volume, individual decision-making takes central stage by bringing together chapters that demonstrate very different types of decision-making frameworks. In this project, it is highlighted that people move for a variety of reasons such as being affected by conflict and insecurity, by economic pressures, and by desire for other forms of enrichment. Throughout, the book's contributors find that events in the Mediterranean cannot be considered alone in understanding migration decision-making from Sub-Saharan Africa, but as part of an increasingly complicated global system not encompassed by one simplified theory or by looking at one regional context in isolation. Knowing why individual people are moving and how they decide upon which routes to take can help to ensure policy that promotes safer travel options, or makes genuine alternatives to migration available.
Mediterraneans by
Today labor migrants mostly move south to north across the Mediterranean. Yet in the nineteenth century thousands of Europeans and others moved south to North Africa, Egypt, and the Levant. This study of a dynamic borderland, the Tunis region, offers the fullest picture to date of the Mediterranean before, and during, French colonialism. In a vibrant examination of people in motion, Julia A. Clancy-Smith tells the story of countless migrants, travelers, and adventurers who traversed the Mediterranean, changing it forever. Who were they? Why did they leave home? What awaited them in North Africa? And most importantly, how did an Arab-Muslim state and society make room for the newcomers? Combining fleeting facts, tales of success and failure, and vivid cameos, the book gives a groundbreaking view of one of the principal ways that the Mediterranean became modern.
Mediterranean Mobilities by
This book critically assesses mobilities across the Mediterranean Basin and explores the implications of changing European relationships in the light of observations of the intersectional formation and evolution of identities, behavior and ideas. Further, it discusses the timely topic of a new diversity of migration and mobility practices (personal and virtual mobilities in terms of gender, motivations, emotional geographies, impacts, and circulation) from conceptual and empirical perspectives, providing new insights for scholars and policy makers in the context of urgently needed national and European policies. Mediterranean Mobilities is based on fieldwork in European and non-European countries and on mutual learning and transfer of knowledge among scholars from nine universities in Morocco, Algeria, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as stakeholders in Europe and North Africa. The results stem from the FP7 Marie Curie IRSES project MEDCHANGe coordinated by the book editor. The project comprises fieldwork conducted by distinguished scholars in Europe, Morocco, Algeria and Israel, generating original data and findings on fast changing realities. This book appeals to researchers but also serves as a basic or complementary text in advanced undergraduate, graduate or master's courses on mobilities/migration, regionalization, cooperation, international relations and Mediterranean studies as part of teaching programs in geography, sociology, international political sciences, as well as programs focusing on regional studies (e.g., European integration). It is also of interest to the professional and institutional community in the wide area of Mediterranean politics, economy and society as well as a general readership.
