Constructing the Mediterranean Region

	Arrábida Monastery, Fundação Oriente, Lisboa, Portugal

The Mediterranean is the world's most volatile region. In the area that ties together southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, the cultural cleavages between the West and Islam and the economic gap between North and South collide. From this "Clash of Civilizations" and extreme economic inequality emerge the central threats of the post-Cold War era: religious fundamentalism, nuclear proliferation, international terrorism, migration, drug trade, and interstate military conflict. In recent years, the European Union has attempted to build a "Mediterranean regional identity" through the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) which will attenuate these two divisions and mitigate the threats that they fuel. The EU has generously funded EMP efforts to entice leaders of Middle Eastern and Northern African countries to abandon the use of force and construct joint regional economic enterprises in order to enhance regional economic welfare, security and stability. This effort in turn, is intended to create "regional" interests and identities that transcend national boundaries. Participants in this conference examined the progress and disappointments of the EMP process and discussed the conditions under which that clash could be muted and civilizations could converge

Conference Participants (from left to right): Nick Biziouras, Beverly Crawford, Metin Heper, Raffaella A. Del Sarto, Emanuel Adler, Federica Bicchi, Alfred Tovias, and Fulvio Attinà

Full List of Conference Participants

Emanuel Adler
Fulvio Attinà
Federica Bicchi
Nick Biziouras
Beverly Crawford
Stephen C. Calleya
Richard Gillespie
Metin Heper
George Joffé
Gema Martín-Muñoz
Raffaella A. Del Sarto
Etel Solingen
Alfred Tovias
Álvaro de Vasconcelos

Conference Schedule

• Arrivals

• 9:00 Welcome
• 9:30 Theory and History
  
  • Emanuel Adler and Beverly Crawford
    Constructing a Mediterranean Region: A Cultural Approach
  • Etel Solingen
    Mare Nostrum? Theoretical Perspectives On A Once and Future Region
  • Nick Biziouras
    Constructing a Mediterranean Region in Comparative Perspective
  • Discussant: Raffaella del Sarto
• 11:45 Coffee break
• 12:00 Regional Perspectives
  
  • Stephen Calleya
    European Union Policy Towards the Mediterranean: the EMP and Region Building
  • Richard Gillespie
    Regionalism and Globalism in the EMP: The Limits to Western Mediterranean Co-Operation
• 1:30 Lunch
• 2:30 Regional Perspectives (cont.)
  
  • Metin Heper
    Compatibility between Turkey and Europe: Political and Cultural Dimensions
  • Taleb Abou Hassan
    The Middle East — The Arab World
  • Joel Peters
    Egyptian Israeli Relations and the EMP
  • Discussant: Nick Biziouras
• 5:30 Adjourn

• 8:30 Coffee
• 9:00 Economics
  
  • Alfred Tovias
    The Political Economy of the Partnership in a Comparative Perspective
  • George Joffé
  • Discussant: Federica Bicchi
• 11:00 Security
  
  • Alvaro Vasconcellos
    The EU Security and Defense Policy and the Future of the EMP
• 12:00 Lunch
• 1:00 Security (cont.)
  
  • Federica Bicchi
    From Security to Economy and Back: Euro-Med Relations in Perspective
  • Fulvio Attina
    European Security and the Development of the EMP
  • Discussant: Maria do Rosário de Moraes Vaz
• 3:00 Coffee
• 3:15 Culture
  
  • Gema Martin Munoz
    Islam in the Eyes of the West
  • Viriato Soremenho Marquez
    Human Rights and Justice
  • Raffaella Del Sarto
    Israel's Contested Identity and the Mediterranean
• 6:15 Adjourn

• 9:00 Coffee
• 9:30 Discussion: The Future of the Project
  Emanuel Adler and Beverly Crawford
• 11:30 Adjournment and Lunch
• 1:30 Lisbon Excursion and Dinner