Geopolitics of the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region. An arc of diversity in search of integration

This chapter is structured in six main paragraphs, starting from a geomorphological description of the Adriatic-Ionian basin and its environmental diversity. Actually, diversity is the key word of the whole chapter as it marks the main characteristics of a region which experienced centuries of intense political, cultural and commercial relations. They had a huge impact on the development of Mediterranean civilization, thanks in particular to the many opportunities for connection with its multiple hinterlands which span from Sicily to central Europe and the Danubian area, as far as the Aegean and the Middle East. Therefore, the chapter analysis in depth the historical experience of apparently closed basins (as the Adriatic and the Ionian) and the “global” dimension of trade. The legacy of the 20th century and the geopolitics of conflicts that affected the area, its development and its inclusion in the global public and economic spheres. Then the chapter described both the potentials of a transition from a geopolitics of conflicts to a geopolitics of integration that the macroregion may offer as a bridge toward the broader EU integration, while later scrutinizes the obstacles which interfere with the perspective of the EU integration. In the end, the chapter recognizes that economic interests need power stimulation in the Balkans together with an equally strong effort to reconstruct cultural bridges (in terms of conscious syncretism and cross-breeds) in a framework of intense political cooperation (on the part of governments) and managerial cooperation (on the part of the administrations). Only in such a way the currently absent territorial cohesion may be rebuilt, encouraging the convergence between local and macroregional, passing via the state dimension and thus coming out of provincialism and the short term.