About the Project

The role of the Mediterranean region as the cradle of civilisation cannot be overestimated. Over the centuries, different cultures of the Mediterranean have not only coexisted, but also had a great impact on each other, turning the region into a closed system characterised by a deep cultural diversity.

In recent centuries, however, Eurocentrism and various political circumstances have almost destroyed the perception of the region as an integrated unit. This project aims to fill in the gaps and present the unity of the Mediterranean as an autonomous cultural, political, and economic actor in international affairs as well as to determine the role of the region in current political processes.

This research is based on a grant provided by the HSE University Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs.

Issues to discuss:

• The terms 'state,' 'power,' 'nation,' 'community,' and 'ummah' in the common and specific public perceptions of people in the region;
• Connections between modern societies and ancient peoples, causal links between the formation of the Mediterranean area as the cradle of civilisation and its specific role in modern world politics on the one hand and the state and social diversity on the other;
• The role of religion in the formation of societies in Mediterranean countries, the impact of Muslim and Christian communities on regional states, the Mediterranean as a melting pot of civilisations, the civilisation bridge between Islam and Christianity;
• The role played by the Arabic language in the formation of a special cultural code of Mediterranean peoples as a lingua franca of the region and unifying factor throughout history; multiculturalism as an attribute of the modern Mediterranean Basin: literature of the region's countries and its cross interference, universal linguistic trends; the media and social networks and their impact;

The study of political, economic, and ethnic religious transformations, with a starting point of the early 2010s, takes a special place within project activities. Particular attention is given to current political and social processes in the countries of the region, such as:

• the origins of the Arab Spring and their impact on social and political trends in European countries;
• the escalation of conflicts between regional actors;
• political processes in North Africa (Libyan File, transformations in Algeria etc) as a destabilising factor;
• growing ambitions of second-tier players seeking to redistribute the balance of power in the Mediterranean Basin;
• China’s expanded influence through the Belt and Road Initiative on the political and economic redistribution of priorities of regional elites, mainly in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean areas;
• growing interest from 'major actors' in the Middle East for direct involvement in Mediterranean processes;
• regional conflicts and their direct impact on political, economic, cultural and religious processes, dynamics of integration and disintegration in the Mediterranean Basin, and the formation of a unique space in the international relations system;
• changes in the regional energy market;
• the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and social situation of the region.

Aims of the Project

The project aims to identify the level of Mediterranean unity as a cultural, political, and economic system and its defining factors; to study the co-influence of political process in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East as well as the positions occupied by elites and power brokers from the Middle East and North Africa in the region's contemporary hierarchy.

Objectives of the Study

• To study the political, economic, and cultural processes of the Mediterranean area in historical perspective and identify the main patterns within each of them.
• To define the importance of the Mediterranean Basin and its influence on the politics, economy, religious, cultural, and ethnic processes of Middle Eastern and European states.
• To determine and review regional problems and contradictions, as well as current correlations of political powers in the countries of the region.
• To undertake analysis and comparative study of internal and external actors in the regional space, as well as conceptualise the term 'control' with regard to the Mediterranean region.

Forms of Implementation of the Project

• Open lectures, seminars, and workshops on a regular basis;
• Distance work in Google Drive apps;
• The development of an open-source electronic database.