COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

This teaching will deal with various issues related to cooperation in the Mediterranean area. In particular, it will be organised in two parts. The first part will focus on those topics specifically tied to development, while the second part will be devoted to intercultural mediation.

The first part will provide students with the analytical tools necessary for a critical approach to interpret current dynamics of development cooperation in the Southern Mediterranean. In particular, such approach will consist in: emphasizing a bottom-up perspective, that means taking into account the needs of local communities, often left at the margin of policy decision making; putting social and economic rights at the centre of analysis; treating the economic dimension as strictly interrelated to the political one. Students will learn to apply such an approach by discussing and reflecting on specific case studies related to Arab countries. Students will acquire competences that will reveal necessary in professional field, from working for research institutions to international agencies and NGOs (from the phase of writing a project to that of assessing development projects and policies)

The second part will introduce students to intercultural mediation, presenting functions, competences and strategies of the mediator. Lessons will take place in co-presence with Joseph Kasterztein (Institut Supérieur des Métiers de la Formation, Paris).

Students will acquire knowledge of the following issues:
- Gender impact of Euro-Mediterranean trade agreements.
- Implication of Agribusiness for rural development and employment
- Policies toward youth in Southern Mediterranean
- Energy policies
- Types, functions, competences and strategies of intercultural mediator.

Students will acquire the following skills:
- Ability to assess, through a critical approach, statistics, documents, projects and policies toward Southern Mediterranean countries in the field of energy, industry and agriculture.
- Ability to assess development projects and policies from a gender perspective
- Ability to interpret and implement strategies of intercultural mediation.

Criteria for admission are the same as for the study programme MIM.

A good knowledge of English and French is required.

The first part will provide students with the analytical tools necessary for a critical approach to interpret current dynamics of development cooperation in the Southern Mediterranean, based on the presentation of the following case studies:
- How to analyse and interpret statistics: “Statistics as instrument of power”.
- Implications of Euro-Mediterranean agreements: T-shirts made in Morocco, employment of female labour and delocalisation strategies by European companies.
- Impact of agribusiness in the Mediterranean: Moroccan female workers employed in the production of strawberries in Southern Spain and in that of tomatoes in the region of Souss Massa.
- International agencies, prevailing narratives and policies: Youth and Employment in the Southern Mediterranean.
- Energy policies and their impact on local communities: renewable energy projects; oil production and exploitation; service privatisation and access to electricity.

In the second part dedicated to mediation, the course will deal with the following issues:
- norms;
- social categorisations;
- strategies to evaluate others;
- context and analysis;
- functions and the competences of the mediator;
- global mediation strategies;
- types of mediators;
- the challenges of intercultural mediation

Gilbert Achcar, 2009, "Egypt’s Recent Growth: An ‘Emerging Success Story’?"

Ibrahim, Solava. 2011. “A Tale of Two Egypts: Contrasting State-Reported Macro-Trends with Micro-Voices of the Poor”, Third World Quarterly 32 (7): 1347–68.

Christos Kourtelis (2015) “Assessing EU Aid to the ‘Southern Partners’ of the European Neighbourhood Policy: Who Benefits from the Reforms in the Agricultural and Industrial Sector?”, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 9 (2), 190-211,

Cairoli, L., (1999), “Garment Factory Workers in the City of Fez”, in Middle East Journal, Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter) (1999): 28-43.

Hanieh A., (2013) “Mapping the Neoliberal Experience”, in A. Hanieh, Lineages of Revolt. Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East, Haymarket Books

Martinez A., (2016) “Emerging Grassroots Processes for Inclusive Citizenship: The Case of Moroccan Female Workers in the Textile and Garment Sector”. In Roksana Bahramitash and Hadi Salehi Esfahani (ed.), Political and Socio- Economic Change in the Middle East and North Africa, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Bouzidi, Z., El Nour, S. and Moumen, W. (2011). “Le travail des femmes dans le secteur agricole: Entre précarité et empowerment. Cas de trois régions en Egypte, au Maroc et en Tunisie”, Gender and Work in the MENA Region Working Paper Series, no. 22. El Cairo, Egypt: Population Council

Hellio E., (2008), “Importing Women to Export Strawberries (Huelva, Spain)”, Etudes Rurale, 2 (102).

Hamza Hamouchene, (2016), “The Ouarzazate Solar Plant in Morocco: Triumphal 'Green' Capitalism and the Privatization of Nature”, al-Jadaliyya, 23 March, 2016

The reading list is provisional. The definitive list of texts necessary to the preparation of the exam will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Questions on the topics covered in class will be addressed to the students at the beginning or end of lesson. The topics covered in the course will be discussed in class, starting from specific questions raised by the professor or daily newspapers connected to the topics covered by the lessons.

- Power-point presentations
- Case study analysis
- Analysis of audio sources and videos
- Critical analysis of primary sources (interviews, official documents, statistical data..)
- Complementary readings on the covered topics (not compulsory for the exam)

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development