ABSTRACT

The geographical term ‘region’ usually refers to a homogenous area of the earth’s surface with characteristics that make it distinct from the areas that surround it. Moreover, a geographical area is generally specified as a ‘region’ when there is a certain pattern of regular relations and interactions among the countries in that area. The distinction between areas may be based on natural or man-made characteristics or a combination of both. Scale distinctions are made between large-scale regions of continental proportions (macro regions) down to very small structures (micro regions). Moreover, regions with common region-wide characteristics (uniform regions) are distinguished from those in which the characteristics are most strongly discernible at or near the centre of the region and least strongly at the boundaries (focal regions). In the case of the Mediterranean, the classification of this ‘(macro) region’ is a rather contentious one.1 In fact, there are two different representations of the Mediterranean commonly found in the literature: the Mediter-ranean as a ‘region’ (with sub-regions) or the Mediterranean as an interface between coherent regions. In the case of the former, the Mediterranean is said to embody many ‘sub-regions’ (geographically speaking).2 These can broadly be said to be southern Europe, which includes southern European Union (EU) member states (which now includes Malta and Cyprus since the EU’s 1 May 2004 enlargement) and at least parts of Turkey; North Africa which consists of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania,3 Morocco, and Tunisia; and the Levant which comprises Egypt,4 Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.5 These classifications are debatable: some would further differentiate between southern Europe (now six EU states) and south-eastern Europe. Moreover, many would call southern Europe and North Africa regions (or something other than sub-regions). One may argue that these can be both regions and sub-regions, namely that, for example, North Africa can be classified as a region but also as a subregion of the Middle East.