Maritime Security in the Mediterranean

Today more than ever, the Mediterranean is identified by scholars as the pivot around which many challenges revolve, affecting the security of states, societies and human beings. What occurs at sea is thus attracting new attention, requiring the shoring up of “maritime security”. Exploration of the term and its articulation are at the centre of this chapter: according to policymakers’ and scholars’ perceptions, the challenges ahead are extremely thorny, with relevant implications. This acceptance has led to unprecedented agreement on the direction to go in and the tools to cope in certain fields. On others, though, imminent security challenges and efforts to tackle them have led to growing militarisation in the Mediterranean, questioning security even further. Acknowledging the Mediterranean as a space of largely connected, widely shared and long-term challenges and similar mutual opportunities would tarnish the securitarian lens lately worn to look at the sea

Back to Schengen: the collective securitisation of the EU free-border area

This article considers how a major influx of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East during 2015 led to an EU-initiated collective securitisation of the Schengen space. The events of 2015 represented an internal crisis for the EU. This was not simply because migration stretched host country facilities and created political division within and between the member states. The uncoordinated reintroduction of border controls by some member states threatened the unravelling of the Schengen Agreement itself. The consequent security discourse which then gained currency in EU documents strongly underlined the need \u2018to go back to normality\u2019 and \u2018to go back to Schengen\u2019, not only to manage increasingly tense relations among member states but also to preserve what was seen as a core achievement of the EU. Contrary to the expectations of mainstream literature on securitisation, the policies enacted in response to the securitisation of Schengen have violated neither \u2018normal politics\u2019 of the EU nor existing or planned policies on migration and asylum despite the wide contestation of current EU migration and asylum practices. The article concludes that the normative dimension behind this collective securitisation should not be underestimated or too easily discounted

Triangular migration diplomacy: the case of EU–Italian cooperation with Libya

Between 2016 and 2017, inflows along the central Mediterranean peaked, increasing pressures on the southern European border. Coordination with Libya to reduce departures has been possible thanks to the role played by Italy, backed by the Union. The diplomatic effort exhibited mainly through 2017 crafted a framework aimed at simultaneously ensuring Libya's interest in regaining full control of its sovereign prerogatives and addressing the EU's desire to reduce irregular inflows. This new framework is explored in this work through the lens of migration diplomacy with a double aim: to enrich the existing body of research by proposing a triangular analysis of migration diplomacy and to expand the literature on the external dimension of the Union's migration policy, by pointing out the political nature of migration relations and its critical aspects

On regional security governance once again: how analysis of the Southern Caucasus can advance the concept

Already introduced to the academic and political debate some years ago, the concept of “security governance” still needs to be clarified. In particular, four main shortcomings need to be overcome to make the concept more useful for an assessment of current security dynamics: in the first place, attention has been devoted more to “governance” than to “security”, while failing to consider the role of the understandings and perceptions of the actors involved in the governance system. Second, the literature on the actors (governmental or not) involved is still fragmented. Third, the literature on security governance has too often been detached from reflections on regionalism, while it would be useful to further explore the relationship between cognitive definitions of regional and security dynamics. Fourth, the literature has predominantly focused on Europe and the transatlantic area, overlooking processes of “region-building” in security terms in other “unexpected” geographical spaces. After proposing avenues to overcome the current gaps in the literature, the Southern Caucasus is chosen as a case study to show the different instances of security governance emerging, thanks to definitions of the region in security terms that have involved regional and external actors, of a state and non-state nature

Diplomazia creativa al servizio di strategie di nicchia di una piccola potenza

In the year marking the centenary since the foundation of the Azerbaijani Diplomatic Service, Baku’s foreign policy is increasingly characterised by a broader understanding of diplomacy, shaped by the gradual yet steady expansion of both areas and the tools for intervention. Guided by the attempt to develop a ‘niche strategy’ aiming at safeguarding and promoting Azerbaijani national interest, the Humanitarian Diplomacy emerges as a privileged field for Baku to adopt a pro-active and creative foreign policy. Building upon the debate around the interests behind the aid-providing activities of traditional and emerging donors, the article aims at introducing the motivations and the aims behind Azerbaijani aid policy. In particular, it aims at demonstrating that Baku’s Humanitarian Diplomacy aims chiefly at achieving immaterial benefits, having to do with international prestige and with the construction and international projection of a Good International Citizenship

La "sicurezza dei confini" nelle relazioni tra Unione Europea e Azerbaigian

Poche questioni hanno assunto negli ultimi anni tanta rilevanza come il concetto di border security. La \u201csicurezza dei confini\u201d ha infatti progressivamente ricoperto un ruolo primario nella definizione delle strategie per la sicurezza interna di vari paesi, portando alla formazione di un curioso paradosso: a fronte del recupero del concetto di \u201cconfine\u201d per la sicurezza di un territorio, si assiste a un radicale mutamento della natura e delle modalit\ue0 di minaccia dello stesso. Non si tratta infatti di tradizionali attacchi militari, ma di sfide e rischi di tipo transazionale, in grado di oltrepassare pi\uf9 o meno agilmente i confini nazionali e coinvolgendo nei loro e\ufb00etti numerosi territori. Crimine organizzato, terrorismo internazionale e immigrazione illegale sono alcune tra le sfide che pongono pi\uf9 problemi alle tradizionali capacit\ue0 di controllo degli stati, sfruttando a proprio favore progressi tecnologici legati in particolar modo alla mobilit\ue0. Questo capitolo analizzer\ue0 la rilevanza della sicurezza dei confini per l\u2019Unione europea e, seguendo l\u2019impostazione del libro, indagher\ue0 l\u2019importanza della tematica nelle relazioni con l\u2019Azerbaigian

Il Caucaso meridionale: uno "spazio di sicurezza regionale"?

Esistono \uabaree di sicurezza regionale\ubb, ovvero luoghi in cui la sicurezza viene percepita da chi li abita come dipendente da attori e fenomeni che si producono in maniera preponderante in quel contesto? La corposa e crescente letteratura in materia di regional security e di regional security governance sembra rispondere positivamente a questo quesito. I due filoni di ricerca non possono essere sovrapposti. Nel primo caso l\u2019enfasi \ue8 sulla disamina di due tra i pi\uf9 contested concepts delle Relazioni Internazionali, ovvero quello di regione (cos\u2019\ue8, quali i suoi confini, quali i suoi membri, come e chi la definisce) e sicurezza (che sfide, quale la loro natura, chi i referenti). Nel secondo, invece, l\u2019attenzione \ue8 spesso posta sulle forme di coordinamento (o meno) che esistono a livello regionale per affrontare sfide di sicurezza, dunque si indagano gli attori, le dinamiche e i possibili livelli di interazione tra essi. Inserendosi in quest\u2019ultimo binario, questo studio si propone di analizzare uno specifico ambito regionale, quello del Caucaso meridionale e di analizzare il ruolo e lo spazio di azione di istituzioni di sicurezza che operano in questo contesto

Le sfide del fenomeno migratorio: il caso europeo

Che fenomeni migratori abbiano un impatto sulle percezioni, sulle politiche e sulle dinamiche di coordinamento tra attori non dovrebbe sorprendere, basti pensare all\u2019intenso dibattito politico scaturito dai recenti flussi provenienti dal Nord Africa a seguito delle rivolte della cosiddetta \u2018Primavera Araba\u2019 e diretti verso le coste Maltesi e Italiane in particolare ed Europee pi\uf9 in generale. Ma quali sono le ragioni profonde che rendono fondamentale lo studio e la ricerca sulle migrazioni? In che modo esse sono legate al rapporto tra stati e in che modo incidono e sono a loro volta influenzate dalla complessa realt\ue0 in cui vive oggi la maggior parte degli attori internazionali? Qual \ue8 il ruolo giocato dalle percezioni relative all\u2019immigrazione? L\u2019obiettivo di questo capitolo \ue8 di far luce su quelle che sono le varie sfaccettature del fenomeno migratorio al fine di comprenderne la complessit\ue0 e l\u2019attualit\ue0 a fronte delle sfide globali. Le opportunit\ue0 e le problematiche ad esso legate costituiscono infatti un importante banco di prova per gli stati, chiamati sempre di pi\uf9 a intraprendere strategie cooperative per la gestione del fenomeno