Towards an Atlantic area? Mapping trends, perspectives and interregional dynamics between Europe, Africa and the Americas

Mesmerized by the contrast between spectacular growth in Asia and the Pacific Rim and the Wests hard times, many observers have overlooked a major reconfiguration of the Atlantic space. The North America Europe link continues to be the strongest and largest of the relationships between any two continents. But their decline in relative terms is slowly being matched by the rise of Africa, Latin America and a newly energised Arab region, all of which are increasing their interregional links and gaining weight in global affairs. Both positive factors, such as the opportunities for better management of shared resources, and negative ones, like the illegal flow of narcotics that harms the whole region, emerge as potential drivers for cooperation, competition or conflict.
The main objective of this project is to analyse fundamental trends in the Atlantic basin and to show how changing economic, energy, security, human, institutional and environmental links are transforming the wider Atlantic space. Research will map the interconnections between those issue areas across the Atlantic. It will also track the transformation of region to region relationships between Africa, the Americas and Europe from a variety of perspectives from all the Atlantic regions and powers. The project will include a prospective exercise where future scenarios for the Atlantic space will be outlined, in order to identify the opportunities for, and obstacles to, stronger cooperation both on issues limited to the Atlantic and on global challenges. The partners also aim to reach policy relevant conclusions for the EUs Atlantic agenda, including a review of the EUs interregional links with the other three littoral continents, its strategic partnerships with the USA, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa and a holistic approach to the whole area all of them crucial aspects of the role that the EU can play in todays changing world