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BOOK REVIEW
TRANSNATIONAL ISLAM 
AND REGIONAL SECURITY: 
COOPERATION AND 
DIVERSITY BETWEEN EUROPE 
AND NORTH AFRICA
BY FRÉDÉRIC VOLPI (ED.)
Routledge; 1st edition, 2008, 280 pp., US$52.95. [paperback], 
US$9.21 [kindle]
The Arab Spring and related events have hit the Euro-
Mediterranean region hard.  In the words of James Derderian, 
2011 was a “monster year,” with millions of people being forced 
to flee their home countries. One in 35 people on the planet is 
a migrant, and the number of migrants will reach 230 million 
people by 2050 according to United Nations forecasts. There 
are 60 million migrants in the European Union, and the coun-
tries of the global North are experiencing significant migration 
pressure. Relations in the Euro-Mediterranean region are based 
on the post-colonial settlements of the 1960s. This settlement 
was marked by a web of bilateral relationships between the 
metropolitan former imperial cores and the newly independ-
ent countries in the South.  The Barcelona Declaration on the 
Development of Partnership was signed in 1995 and was meant 
to alter this pattern of relations and construct a cooperative in-
stitutional framework that included political cooperation, and 
thereby create a secure zone of economic, social and humanitar-
ian relations. To its credit, this timely book addresses the pain-
ful consequences of the Arab Spring and related in events in the 
Euro-Mediterranean region in terms of the integrative process. 
The current climate of distrust between Morocco and the 
European Union over Spain’s hosting of a POLISARIO leader, 

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the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and in the Spanish en-
claves in North Africa, the ongoing and unresolved problems 
emanating from the Arab Spring, as well as the French decision 
to withdraw from the counter terrorist mission in the Sahel 
have given this book a new urgency and renewed relevance. The 
book touches upon the attempts to foster greater integration 
between the Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean 
with Europe and the hopes that the integrative process would 
help prevent some of the very same problems that have given 
the book a renewed lease of urgency and relevance.
But that hope failed to materialize. The European Union en-
largement in 2004 subsumed the Barcelona Process under the 
neighborhood policy, leading to competition over priorities 
between the countries East of Europe and those South of the 
Mediterranean. Additionally, EU member states’ diverging in-
terests in the Southern Mediterranean, alongside differences 
over civilization and identity complicated the picture greatly.  
There was also controversy over democratization and its rela-
tionship to security both within the European Union and be-
tween the European states and their North African and Eastern 
Mediterranean partners. These factors acting together bled the 
Barcelona Process of its relevance. 
The European Union’s response to the Libyan crisis of 2011 
marked a clear transition. Libya was an important oil supplier 
to the EU, but the latter-imposed sanctions and supported the 
anti-Gaddafi rebel movements in accordance with UNSC resolu-
tions 1970 and 1973.   But in many ways, this was done without 
a clear consensus over military operations, and the EU instead 
concentrated on humanitarian efforts under the umbrella of 
EUFOR-Libya. Military operations became the purview of NATO 
only.  The conflict in Syria displayed the same dynamics but in 
a harsher tone. Aside from freezing the association agreement 
with Syria, the European Union has failed to adopt a common 
narrative concerning the war against the people and government 
of Syria.  With both countries in flames, the area was opened 
for intervention by external actors such as the United States, 
Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Israel, as well as armed Islamist move-
ments like Hezbollah, ISIS, and Al Qaeda. Refugees continue to 

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flee both countries to Turkey and Europe often at great risk. The 
Euro-Mediterranean region is now facing severe security chal-
lenges due to uncontrolled refugee flows, terrorism and insta-
bility as a result. The book adds to the academic debates that 
attempt to address this instability. 
“Transnational Islam and Regional Security: Cooperation 
and Diversity between Europe and North Africa” consists of 
nine chapters including an introduction. The editor, Frederic 
Volpi, sets the tone for the book in the introduction. The book 
is written in the Copenhagen School tradition of international 
relations, which represents a “liberal social constructivist” trend 
within international studies theory. The chapters include: the 
NATO-Maghreb relations, the role of the Barcelona conference 
in 2005, the transformation of the terrorist state of Libya, radi-
cal Islam and inter-Mediterranean relations.
Volpi discusses the post-9/11 transformation of terrorism 
from targeting the state to targeting people, and the expansion 
of its geography from the Middle East and North Africa to the 
whole world.  Volpi places the responsibility for this transforma-
tion on the policies of the states of the Southern and Eastern 
shores of the Mediterranean. Aside from addressing issues of 
identity and the construction of knowledge, Volpi highlights the 
dilemma felt by North African states, which generally cooperate 
on counter-terrorism with Europe, but see it as a source of their 
problems in terms of radicalization.
Michael Willis addresses “Containing Radicalism through the 
Political Process in North Africa.”  Willis uses a liberal frame-
work to analyze case studies in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. He 
argues that, in these countries, involving radical groups in the 
political process was meant to create an illusion of participation. 
The author argues that in Tunisia, this policy was successful, but 
the Islamist Ennahda party continues to be excluded. In con-
trast, Algeria chose to combat its Islamists, resulting in a bloody 
civil war.  The military’s predominance in Algeria may have led 
to the different outcome in the country. Algeria was also unable 
to address its economic problems. Morocco, in contrast, has a 
long history of controlling radical groups through legal process-
es and through cooption. Combining both political and security 

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measures, the country was able to contain the Islamist move-
ment. A key factor in the decision-making of all three states was 
the United States’ post-9/11 counter-terrorism policy. Willis 
notes that the North African states focused on political con-
trol instead of modernisation. Citing the history of the United 
Kingdom, he argues that “liberalisation and democratic reforms 
should lead to greater political and social inclusiveness, which 
will lead to a decrease in support for radical agents.” The author 
is however open to the idea that democracy can sometimes lead 
to undesirable outcomes. For example, Gaza voted for Hamas in 
2006, and Iraq selected the Dawa party and related movements 
in 2003. Nonetheless, the author is correct to point out the link 
between illusory politics and radicalization.
Far less stable today than its four peers to the West, Libya is 
addressed by Luis Martinez’ “Libya: Conversion of a Terrorist 
State.”  A strong case study, the chapter details how Libya 
emerged from the shadows of being a terrorist rogue state into 
an accepted member of the international community after 2001.  
Col. Gaddafi was keen on preserving his power and had a desire 
to avoid Saddam’s fate.  The country remains divided today into 
its ethnic, tribal and clan components, as well as by region and 
ideology. According to Martinez, the collapse of oil prices and 
economic sanctions forced Gaddafi to stop supporting terror-
ist movements. While the study is comprehensive, it needs to 
address the issue of governance, foreign intervention, and the 
use of terrorism as a tool of international political blackmail. 
In the same Copenhagen vein, Bicchi and Martin argue in their 
article, “Talking Tough or Talking Together? European Security 
Discourses towards the Mediterranean,” that political Islam has 
been progressively securitised in the United Kingdom while 
Europe lacked a coherent policy towards it.  9/11 brought about 
difficult questions concerning the existence of a clash between 
the West and the Islamic World.  
Using a historical method, the chapter looks at the policies 
pursued by European countries towards Islamist groups. The 
continued legality of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Europe is used as an ex-
ample of a multi-factor approach. The group is not recognized 
as a terrorist movement in the United Kingdom, and the policy 

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towards it is offered as an example of a “new security game.” 
They add that the war in Iraq “soured relations between Western 
and Muslim countries.”
Focusing on the role of NATO in “NATO, Maghreb and 
Europe,” Benantar looks at NATO’s relationship with the coun-
tries of the MENA region.  The author uses 9/11 to divide the 
chapter into two periods of time, and argues that 9/11 led to 
fundamental changes in the relationship, arguing that there 
were “competition and interference, rather than complementa-
rity of various regional initiatives.” The states of the region have 
more or less written off regional integration, and instead focus 
on avoiding being listed as rogue states by the United States. 
This dynamic unspools itself in MENA countries efforts to pre -
vent Washington from supportinginternal opposition, and bol-
stering the legitimacy of their own internal struggle against ter-
rorism, often over the efforts of regional rivals.  Applying the 
Copenhagen approach directly, the author concludes that de-
spite 9/11, the Euro-Mediterranean is not a “true regional secu-
rity system,” and that current circumstances do not allow for the 
creation of a “Mediterranean strategic identity.”  The Maghreb 
itself is far from being a “security community,” to use the words 
of Karl Deutsch, but it can be considered a “security complex” to 
use the words of Buzan, because there are common and compet-
itive interests at the same time across the two shores.  As for the 
West’s motivation for deepening relations with the southern 
countries of the region, the author lists several factors. Firstly, 
the security of NATO depends on the policy and state of the 
East and South. Secondly, after 9/11, there is a need to confirm 
that the South is not the enemy. 
The centrality of Spain in the relationship is highlighted by 
Jordan and Horsburgh’s chapter, “Spain and Islamist Terrorism.” 
Zemni’s chapter stands out because it focuses on Islam rather 
than the politics, but it uses Morocco and Belgium as case stud-
ies for the threats used by Jihadis and the insecurity they en-
gender in the Islamist movement. Collyer in contrast focuses 
on the effects of securitisation of the Migrants trying to make 
their way to Europe through Spain. Gillespie’s “Onward but not 
Upward: The Barcelona Summit of 2005” deals with the lasting 

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bitterness   surrounding the definition of terrorism. This failure 
to reach a common definition of terrorism is labeled a “missed 
opportunity.” 
The book makes a significant contribution towards under -
standing the relationships that cut across the Mediterranean 
and the challenges posed by radical Islamist movements to 
Europe and North Africa after 9/11.  It outlines the successes 
and failures of cooperation between governments in the region. 
The work is theoretically rigorous and steeped in sound scholarly 
methods and techniques.  The authors discuss the relationships 
between Islamist movements, states and societies. They also ad-
dress the factors behinds political violence and radicalism. There 
are, of course, some minor weaknesses. The book does not in-
clude survey methods, therefore there is no thorough account of 
the views of the concerned population.  The book concerns itself 
exclusively with policy-makers and elites and their role in con-
structing polities and identities. The book also lacks the voice 
of the victims of radical extremist violence and their views. 
Economic integration and the ongoing security coordination are 
also not deeply addressed. Given that the book was published in 
2008, it would also be useful to consider a second edition that 
takes the last 8 years into account. “Transnational Islam and 
Regional Security: Cooperation and Diversity between Europe 
and North Africa” illustrates how the problems of the region, 
when not solved in time, become progressively harder to solve.
GEORGI ASATRYAN
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Institute of Scientific 
Information on Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 
Russia