Maritime Security in the Mediterranean

Today more than ever, the Mediterranean is identified by scholars as the pivot around which many challenges revolve, affecting the security of states, societies and human beings. What occurs at sea is thus attracting new attention, requiring the shoring up of “maritime security”. Exploration of the term and its articulation are at the centre of this chapter: according to policymakers’ and scholars’ perceptions, the challenges ahead are extremely thorny, with relevant implications. This acceptance has led to unprecedented agreement on the direction to go in and the tools to cope in certain fields. On others, though, imminent security challenges and efforts to tackle them have led to growing militarisation in the Mediterranean, questioning security even further. Acknowledging the Mediterranean as a space of largely connected, widely shared and long-term challenges and similar mutual opportunities would tarnish the securitarian lens lately worn to look at the sea.