This book investigates the current status and future prospects of energy relationships in the Euro-Mediterranean region. By adopting a political economy perspective, this book provides insight into regional cooperation in the fields of natural gas and renewable energy. The author posits that regional energy relations have yet to be examined through a comprehensive analytical framework in order to realistically assess the potential role of energy in acting as a catalyst for greater economic and political cooperation in the region. To do so, the author provides a detailed analysis of the region’s energy relations and pertinent case studies. Chapters illustrate the political and economic drivers underpinning the region’s energy dynamics, providing the reader with a wide-ranging overview of the Euro-Mediterranean energy relations of today and tomorrow.
This book discusses the emerging threats to European stability in different borderland regions, from the Greater Middle East to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Black Sea. It highlights the specific geopolitical risks that could, left unchecked, have global repercussions. The book shows how recent events have exasperated underlying problems that have been slowly destabilizing each of these regions for years. It also looks at the geopolitical constraints and objectives of the countries within these regions to build a basis for understanding their current and future security challenges. While doing so, the book discusses the European borderlands in a non-traditional way, proposing a specific framework to study them, going beyond historical analysis and employing a heuristic process and in-depth socio-economic analysis to understand regional power relations and trends. It develops the key concepts of "core borderland" and "geopolitical node" to understand the future challenges that Europe in particular and Eurasia, in general, will face, discussing specific features shaping current affairs and identifying the main drivers - countries and specific regional elements - for the future stability of the borderlands. This book will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, as well as policy-makers, practitioners, and international organizations interested in a better understanding of current and future challenges at Europe's borderlands and the security risks the European continent faces.
The wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean is in transition. What is being evinced is a situation of continuous volatility, centering on developments such as the ’Arab Spring,’ the Greek sovereign debt crisis, Islamic terrorism, the continuation of deadlock over the Cypriot and Palestinian Issues, significant energy finds in the Levantine Basin, concerns over nuclear proliferation and, more recently, the Syrian Civil War. At a systemic level, the move towards a regional multipolar reality has also contributed to volatility by creating a crescendo of antagonisms between all the major international actors who continuously strive for more influence, power and prestige. This collective project by leading experts represents a unique combination of International Theory and International Politics analysis that deals exclusively with the wider Eastern Mediterranean. It scrutinizes in a multidimensional manner the current geostrategic and geopolitical conditions that include the latest domestic socio-political events, as well as the active involvement of the Great Powers in the region. This book should be of interest to academics, decision-makers and a general reading public focusing on a significant and influential region in flux.
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
This book presents the theoretical-historical-comparative political framework needed to fully grasp the truly dynamic nature of 21st century global affairs. The author provides a realistic assessment of the shift from U.S predominance to a new mix of counterbalancing rival middle-tier and assertive regional powers, while highlighting those geopolitical zones of contention most critical for future international stability. The book will appeal to scholars and policy makers interested in understanding the contours of the emerging world order, and in identifying its principal shapers and leading political actors.
This atlas provides a macro-regional overview of the areas that surround the European Union, from the Sahara to the Middle East, Western Balkans to European Russia, Turkey to the Arctic. Detailing key socio-economic data as well as developmental trends, the maps provide a comprehensive territorial analysis at a local scale and explore the potential for regional integration and cooperation.These pioneering maps examine challenges that threaten this wide, yet inter-connected, region, including environmental concerns in the North, political unrest in the East, social factors in the Western Balkans, and the upheaval in the Mediterranean since the Arab spring. Coverage investigates such key countries and areas as Libya, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and the Ukraine as well as explores such essential issues as Europe’s energy procurement. In addition, it also presents a comparison with other world regions such as East Asia and North America.In the end, readers discover that territorial integration faces many shortcomings, but that deep regional cooperation would be a key driver for the EU’s sustainable future. This atlas features the main results of the “Integrated Territorial Analysis of the Neighbourhoods” research project undertaken by ESPON (The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion). It provides scholars; local authorities and NGOs involved in cross-border cooperation; companies interested in energy, agriculture, water, transportation and communication; and interested readers with key insights into this important region.
'Here's a work arriving just at the right moment and contributingnew insights at precisely the time when public opinion remains sceptical of the not very promising future we are preparing for our children, when governments balk at explaining to their electorates the vital but unpopular decisions that have to be taken and when civil society, with few ways and means, is finally becoming involved. This remarkable work will help all actors to understand the inter-linkages between economic activities and the environment in the Mediterranean Basin and take concerted, effective action to build a positive, sustainable future' Mohamed Ennabli, former Minister of the Environment and Land Use Panning, Tunisia 'The Blue Plan has carried out a remarkable assessment of the serious environmental probems and insufficiently targeted cooperation in the Mediterranean, and also of new financing systems to be implemented, which would increase the capacities of local authorities and economic and social partners' Georges Corm, former Minister of Finance, Lebanon The Mediterranean Basin and its surrounding countries is a microcosm of the environmental and sustainability challenges facing people across the world. Depending on the development path it takes in the future, the region can either become a positive model for the regional regulation of globalization, or, more onerously, it might reinforce global instability. This unique volume is the definitive, authoritative assessment of the environment and development of the Mediterranean Basin and its 22 countries and territories, spanning five decades from 30 years in the past to 20 years into the future. Produced by the Blue Plan within the framework of UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan and backed by the EU and national governments, it brings together the work of more than 100 researchers from dozens of national, regional and local governments and research groups into the only comprehensive insight into sustainable development issues in the region. Core coverage includes water, energy, transport, cities, rural and coastal areas, as well as related issues such as climate change, population growth, geopolitical changes, unemployment and poverty, pollution, economic and environmental policies, regional cooperation and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Information is clearly presented through hundreds of full-colour maps, graphs, tables and a wealth of case studies. This is a must-have reference for all levels of government, NGOs and libraries, as well as practitioners, academics and businesses involved in economics, natural resource management, land and maritime transport, water, energy, infrastructure, urban and rural development, agriculture, fishing and aquaculture, tourism and coastal management. Countries and territories covered: Spain, France, Italy, Monaco, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Preface by Lucien Chabason, Chairman of the Blue Plan.
An insider's account of Romania's emergence from communism control In the 1970s American attorney Alfred H. Moses was approached on the streets of Bucharest by young Jews seeking help to emigrate to Israel. This became the author's mission until the communist regime fell in 1989. Before that Moses had met periodically with Romania's communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, to persuade him to allow increased Jewish emigration. This experience deepened Moses's interest in Romania—an interest that culminated in his serving as U.S. ambassador to the country from 1994 to 1997 during the Clinton administration. The ambassador's time of service in Romania came just a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. During this period Romania faced economic paralysis and was still buried in the rubble of communism. Over the next three years Moses helped nurture Romania's nascent democratic institutions, promoted privatization of Romania's economy, and shepherded Romania on the path toward full integration with Western institutions. Through frequent press conferences, speeches, and writings in the Romanian and Western press and in his meetings with Romanian officials at the highest level, he stated in plain language the steps Romania needed to take before it could be accepted in the West as a free and democratic country. Bucharest Diary: An American Ambassador's Journey is filled with firsthand stories, including colorful anecdotes, of the diplomacy, both public and private, that helped Romania recover from four decades of communist rule and, eventually, become a member of both NATO and the European Union. Romania still struggles today with the consequences of its history, but it has reached many of its post-communist goals, which Ambassador Moses championed at a crucial time. This book will be of special interest to readers of history and public affairs—in particular those interested in Jewish life under communist rule in Eastern Europe and how the United States and its Western partners helped rebuild an important country devastated by communism.
Turkey is a rising regional and global power facing, as is the United States, the challenges of political transitions in the Middle East, bloodshed in Syria, and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. As a result, it is incumbent upon the leaders of the United States and Turkey to define a new partnership "in order to make a strategic relationship a reality," says a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)-sponsored Independent Task Force.
