Spain and the Mediterranean

"This is the first comprehensive study of Spanish Mediterranean policy. After providing a historical overview, it examines how the country's transition to democracy affected its Mediterranean relationships, especially those with Morocco and Algeria. The book shows how, subsequently, Spain has developed a 'global' Mediterranean policy, extending beyond North Africa to the Near East, and how Spaniards have come to play an influential role in the European Union through the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: a multilateral response to instability in the South. Recent experience calls into question the adequacy of this response.

Spanish and EU Mediterranean policy is marked by various tensions: between seeking to reduce the North-South divide and pursuing self-serving economic strategies, between advocating intercultural dialogue and feeling threatened by immigration, and between attempting to promote democracy and cooperating with regimes that violate human rights. Spain's pragmatic Mediterranean diplomacy has helped reduce these tensions, but the contradictions remain."--Jacket.