Political Civility in the Middle East by Frederic Volpi

Author:Frederic Volpi [Volpi, Frederic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9780415696562
Google: 14iRZwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 13716443
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2011-11-30T12:15:21+00:00

Final thoughts

These outside-inside dynamics fuel the debate about who contributes to the modern nation, who defines it, in which terms—identity, economy, ethnicity—and who is ultimately included or excluded by it. Important future outcomes rely on policy options that must see through opportunities, threats, and recommendations for development, and choose a path that is inclusive, equitable and sustainable for the entire complexity of Morocco’s and Cape Verde’s new ethnoscapes. As emphasised in an International Organisation for Migration (iom) council a few years ago, ‘coherence begins at home [and] is achieved by bringing together the relevant ministries with responsibilities on migration in order to avoid inconsistencies and co-develop common objectives’.57 This might constitute, following Robin Cohen, a type of ‘so-called ‘‘everyday cosmopolitanism’’’ or ‘ordinary cosmopolitanism’ where men and women from different origins create a society where diversity is accepted and rendered ordinary.58 Morocco’s and Cape Verde’s identity and sovereignty challenges open unique precedents in their respective histories, with social issues resulting from the pressure of being at the geopolitical forefront of the ‘new’ European frontier, reflecting symptoms similar to those of comparable states in transition, and opening up opportunities for self-definition.

This study concludes that the increasingly extemporaneous nature of European external policy constitutes a reassembly and reconstruction of the entire Mediterranean region, effectively testing the extension of its borders to include the western and northwestern edge of the African continent, while simultaneously transferring many of the political predicaments and social disturbances of the borderland to neighbouring countries. While these have been involuntarily transformed into buffer zones, one could also cynically suggest a veiled interest by local authorities in maintaining a semi-continuous stream of migrants, as a condition for guaranteeing the continuation and reinforcement of their ties to the EU, particularly to its southernmost states. At a time of substantial difficulties with border and visa control enforcement, it remains unknown what future Moroccan border controls will be, or how Cape Verde’s management of its dual engagements with ECOWAS and the EU will evolve. Geopolitically, however, it is clear that the West African coast between Morocco and the Cape Verde Islands might now be understood as en extension of the Mediterranean Sea directly under the Union’s sphere of influence.

Regularising and integrating resident or ‘transit’ migrants is urgent in both Morocco and in Cape Verde, requiring consequent policies that tackle inclusion and exclusion issues as well as social tensions exported by European foreign policy and proxy maritime borderlands. Internally the problem lies with the maintenance of social peace at a time when both countries are feeling the pinch of a fast-shrinking economy, enhanced economic woes, increased migration pressure, and democratic and civil society deficits—compounded, in the case of Morocco, by political upheaval across the Maghreb. The murky cocktail of ethno-racial and socioeconomic causes of the tensions in the two countries suggests that racial bias and a nexus of aspirations, economic discrimination and exclusion are at play, often enhanced by populist media reports that help the Moroccan and Capeverdean governments easily find quorum among their people.

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