Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn the course of the spatial turn, long-established regional subdivisions of the world have been deconstructed, and area studies are increasingly opening up for transregional research. One (re)emerging research field is Trans-Saharan Studies, which considers historical and contemporary entanglements between the Maghreb, the Sahara and the Sahel (with further connections far beyond). Against this background, Steffen Wippel's essay reviews six recently published works that can be assigned to trans-Saharan research: two comprehensive textbooks and a catalogue written in French, two edited volumes that tackle entangled trans-Saharan and trans-Mediterranean migration flows and a study of an enclosed, yet widely interconnected inner-Saharan place and population group.

During the last years we can observe a new orientation of North African countries towards Sub-Saharan Africa. It is quite remarkable that, beyond purely political dimensions, economic aspects are beginning to play an outstanding role in this process. This article presents a comparative study of Morocco's and Egypt's African orientations and their proceedings. First, it will analyse recent developments in both countries' African policy, then it will confront, on the economic level, formal international meetings and agreements with effective orientations and intensities of economic relations. In view of the relative economic dimension of partner countries, it seems to be justified to speak of a "regional condensation" of commercial flows to Africa south of the Sahara. However, compared to the importance of the two countries' other regional orientations, their Trans-Saharan relations are still complementary so that we can finally qualify them only as a "secondary" or even "tertiary" type of regionalisation. (Maghreb-Machrek/DÜI)

Der Beitrag untersucht nach einem Überblick über den historischen Verlauf die jüngsten Entwicklungen des Integrationsprozesses im Maghreb. Die Idee eines geeinten Maghreb ist im politischen Gedankengut der Region fest verankert. Ursprünglich als Gegenmodell zur Abhängigkeit vom Westen konzipiert, wird die Kooperation innerhalb des Maghreb seit etwa Mitte der 80er Jahre meist als komplementär zu einer engen Anbindung an Europa und den Mittelmeerraum angesehen. Ohne tatsächliches Bemühen um die Umsetzung der Maghrebidee besteht die Gefahr, dass diese in der Öffentlichkeit zunehmend an Anziehungskraft verliert. (DSE)