Conceptualising the Mediterranean Global South: A research agenda on security, borders and human flows

Abstract

This paper assumes the Mediterranean as a critical junction between Global North and Global South. It explores current challenges at the European Union (EU) Mediterranean borders and investigates the intertwined area at the EU borders that we call ‘Mediterranean Global South’. The paper explores actors providing security in the Mediterranean Global South and critically addresses the EU capacity to manage its borders. Specific attention is devoted to South to North human flows, one of the most critical challenges to human security in current times deploying its effects well beyond states’ borders.

Human flows across the Mediterranean Sea have put EU member states (EUMS), EU institutions and European societies under stress. The paper challenges those state-centered approaches that regard closing the borders as the most effective solution to acquire security and stability in Europe, and focuses on non-state actors’ practices that seek to address regional problems more effectively.

The paper thus investigates the complexification of regional relations deriving from the actual role of those actors, state or non-state actors, EU and EUMS, regional and global powers, that play crucial functions in the provision of solutions to complex security issues. The EU Mediterranean borders are expanding and actors involved in securing the Mediterranean Global South are increasingly engaged in the South of the Mediterranean for the management of regional crises.

Keywords: Mediterranean, migration, securitization, European Union, borders