In recent years, gender equality certification has become a key policy instrument in Italy, supported by a solid national framework and regional implementation measures targeting SMEs. However, territorial implementation shows important weaknesses. Regional interventions are heterogeneous and often fragmented, with significant differences in tools and target groups. Most policies focus primarily on financial barriers, overlooking organisational and socio cultural constraints. SMEs face informal …

This policy brief critically re-examines dominant narratives on climate migration in Africa, with a particular focus on Namibia, questioning the prevailing narrative that frames climate change as a linear, dominant driver of human mobility. In a context of accelerating climate change and increasing forced migration flows, global political and media discourses have increasingly framed environmental change as a direct and primary driver of human mobility. These representations often rely on enviro…

La realtà globale contemporanea vive, com’è noto, una profonda contraddizione: da un lato, il costante e sempre più accelerato progresso tecnologico, lo sviluppo di capillari relazioni economiche e la rapida circolazione delle persone e delle informazioni hanno portato l’integrazione tra aree anche lontanissime a livelli sconosciuti nel passato. Dall’altro, l’ingresso nell’era della post-globalizzazione ha reso nuovamente attuale la logica dello scontro tra blocchi, persino dello scontro di civi…

The international cooperation system is undergoing a profound transformation. The traditional North-South aid model has fragmented with the emergence of new global players (China, India, Brazil) and South-South partnerships. At the same time, Western Official Development Assistance (ODA) is in crisis, shrinking in volume and increasingly being exploited for purposes such as controlling migration flows and national security, losing sight of development objectives. In this complex and politically …

The paper examines how the level of digital development in the Euro-Mediterranean countries (Euromed 9: Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and Croatia), as measured by the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), is associated with active ageing outcomes as captured by the Active Ageing Index (AAI). The underlying premise is that the European digital transition may represent, for rapidly ageing societies, both an opportunity and a risk: it can foster autonomy, parti…

The Mediterranean is facing an increasingly complex combination of climate risks, tensions linked to national and regional policies, socio-economic instability and forced migration. Current strategies of regional cooperation between Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East remain fragmented. Although the role of younger generations is acknowledged, it has not yet been structurally integrated at either the European or the Mediterranean level. This policy brief summarises the main empiric…

This policy brief synthesises and reworks the contents of the chapter “From Borders to Cooperation: Migrants and Culture in the Geopolitical Balance of the Mediterranean”, offering a critical reflection on migration dynamics, cultural exchanges, and geopolitical balances within the Mediterranean basin. The original text provides the theoretical and empirical framework, here condensed in order to highlight the strategic connections between human mobility, cultural heritage, and sustainable develo…

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is emerging as a transformative platform reshaping geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics across the Mediterranean. Designed as a multilateral, transparent and standard-based initiative, IMEC offers an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been criticised for asymmetric dependencies and limited transparency (Oberhauser, 2024; Kaddorah, 2024). IMEC advances a model grounded in economic and geopolitical trust, fosterin…

As geopolitical conflicts escalate and global value chains restructure, Mediterranean countries can play a crucial role in connecting opposing blocs, serving as trade and investment bridges. This policy brief examines the strategic position of Mediterranean countries, analyzing their trade routes, key partners, and preferred industries. The findings suggest that Mediterranean nations could help maintain the resilience of global value chains in a polarized global economy and foster stronger re…

This study explores the impact of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) on the dynamics of trade between China and the Mediterranean countries analysing the trade potential before and after the implementation of the BRI. Using an augmented gravity model and panel data from 2003 to 2020, we conclude that there is a complex and imbalanced pattern of trade between China and the Mediterranean region and trade potential exploitation is strongly asymmetric across countries. By diversifying China’s exp…

In 2025, the crises in Palestine and Sudan – though different in history and visibility – reveal an already emerging trend: the normalisation of instability and the return of military unilateralism, accompanied by a weakening of multilateralism and international law. Both are marked by humanitarian catastrophes and large-scale violence against civilians. The two crises have significant regional repercussions: the Israel–Hamas conflict has rapidly drawn in Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, Yemen/…

The Mediterranean is undergoing a profound geoeconomic realignment that reshapes the balance of power between its shores. While Southern Europe faces long-term stagnation exacerbated by demographic decline and structural rigidities, the economies of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, despite political and financial fragilities, are becoming increasingly dynamic, leveraging energy resources, infrastructural corridors, and youthful human capital. The region has become a laboratory of asymm…