Are there Geostrategic Coherences Among the Southern States?

Abstract

Baquer states that there are no strategic coherences among the Southwestern Mediterranean countries –the Maghreb– as a consequence of differences in their defense policies and political natures. However, the five countries –Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya– display commonalities in their respective strategies: resistance to Western values, and defense policies basically oriented towards domestic stability. The author reviews the relations between France, Spain and Italy, and the Maghreb from a historical viewpoint. The European interest in the political stability of the area can beproved by its willingness to favor economic, social and political development. Baquer identifies as sources of instability social conflicts, economic scarcity, cultural problems, political struggle inside elites in power, and demographic pressures.