Malta, the ‘prison island’

Léa Lemaire (a doctoral student at Science-Po Aix and the Université Libre de Bruxelles) studies the processes of securitisation and insecuritisation in relation to the phenomenon of immigration in Malta, since the island state joined the European Union (2004).

At the beginning of the 2000s, following a reinforcement of the control measures in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Canary Islands, the illegal immigration routes shifted to the Mediterranean, meaning an increase in migrant arrivals in Malta, Lampedusa and Sicily. Between 2002 and 2012, 16,000 migrants mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, landed in Malta, with approximately 1,500 people arriving every year.

Léa Lemaire’s article questions the security system set up by the Maltese authorities in relation to this issue. To highlight the ‘specificity of the Maltese case’, the author conducted her investigation, between 2010 and 2013, in several assembly centres, or rather 'foreigner’s camps’. She shows how and to what extent imprisoning the migrants (securitisation), hotly criticised by the Council of Europe for its lack of human dignity, has become institutionalised as a result of the urgency of the situation. As she explains, this has contributed to the stigmatisation of a group of individuals as a threat to society.

In Maltese, the sub-Saharan migrants are referred to as ‘klandestini’. In practice, this translates into numerous cases of discrimination in all domains. Therefore, does (in)securitisation contribute to separating a population, considered as ‘dangerous’, from the rest of society? Thus making Malta a ‘syndrome' of the restriction of freedoms on the edge of the European Union... A prison island? Yes, indeed.

Nuclear (in)security in the Middle East

Security policies can have consequences that exceed the borders of several states... As for Kamal Bayramzadeh (lecturer and researcher in international relations at ULg and Paris 13), he analyses the security stakes of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, in particular the Iranian nuclear project that is of such great concern to Israel, the neighbouring regional powers and the United States. Bayramzadeh offers a broad definition of security insofar as, in his opinion, nuclear proliferation can have consequences on a military and an environmental level.

According to Kamal Bayramzadeh, the Israeli military nuclear programme is a factor of proliferation (even if Israel claims that the vocation of its programme is defensive), because it has modified balance of power in the Middle East. Iraq, Iran and Syria have embarked on nuclear programmes to increase their security and their political power. The pessimistic scenario he paints in his analysis is as follows: the pursuit of this 'nuclear race’ could trigger a war between the various players in the region. The indirect confrontation of Saudi Arabia with Iran in Libya, Iraq and Syria through the intermediary of Islamic terrorists is part of this regional rivalry. A just and democratic peace between Palestine and Israel, but also the ‘new Iranian nuclear diplomacy’ are the main elements that could put the brakes on this pessimistic scenario. The author also recommends implementing the UN project for a ‘Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone’ (NWFZ).

The EU, the only viable path for ex-Yugoslavia

Along the same lines, Liridon Lika (Department of Political Science at ULg) explores the role played by the European Union in the Western Balkans long-term peace process. He shows that with its current expansion policy – where democracy and human rights must prevail above all – the European Union has become the most visible authority and probably the only viable alternative to ensure peace, stability and reconciliation as well as a sustainable economic future in the region. However, Liridon Lika stresses, the EU isn’t able to act as a homogenous bloc. At times, it lacks autonomy with regard to its Member States and coherence in its action strategy, thus slowing down reforms and the rate at which certain Western Balkan states are joining the European family.

Subsequently, he concludes, without the contribution of a definitive solution to the Balkan conflicts, expansion on a case by case basis would probably bring about security challenges insofar as the first state to join the EU would have the chance to oppose the membership of its neighbours, at least in the short and the medium term, thus threatening the region’s European prospects.