The Mediterranean basin has common or parallel historical paths but also presents many divergences and differentiations. Its two shores are so close geographically but so far apart culturally. Efforts at cooperation are dense, but contrasts and ruptures are frequent. The influences they exert on each other are strong and the common problems they face are many. Migration, terrorism and energy are just a few examples. Each, of course, has its own distinct problems politically, socially and economically. On the north bank, the degradation of the natural environment, crime and unemployment are eroding social cohesion, while on the south bank, the absence of democratic principles, human rights violations, poverty, overpopulation, local conflicts and religious fanaticism are creating explosive and destabilising conditions, as happened recently with the Arab Spring. Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and unity is more urgent than ever.
The aim of the course is to examine important aspects of contemporary Mediterranean history, such as the rise of nationalism and the formation of nation-states in the Mediterranean South, colonialism and its consequences in the Muslim world of the Mediterranean, and the awakening of the Arabs in the interwar period, the impact of the Cold War on local and regional balances, the new geopolitical developments at the beginning of the 21st century, the importance of religion in shaping political and social life, the impact of regional conflicts such as the Palestinian question.
