Corfu town

BUCSIS Summer School in Corfu

Palaiokastritsa, town in Corfu, Greece

Panorma od Palaiokastritsa, Corfu, Greece

The GeoLab Institute at the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece and the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at The University of Buckingham co-organise an annual summer school in Mediterranean security. Four days of lectures and discussions with a multinational team of experts, providing a unique opportunity to become familiar with security developments across the Mediterranean basin, including terrorism and radicalization, hybrid warfare, the emergence of China in the region, the re-emergence of Russia and the on-going challenge of irregular migration flows.

Main themes explored

  • The current landscape in the Mediterranean as a geopolitically contested region
  • Hybrid threats and fake news: Is there a Mediterranean dimension?
  • Radicalisation and extremism in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean
  • The Mediterranean as a meeting point or frontline for civilisations and cultures: patterns of conflict and cooperation
  • Terrorism in Europe: Is the Mediterranean a transit passage or target area?
  • Transnational crime in the Mediterranean and its evolution
  • Religion, identity and conflict in the Mediterranean
  • The Mediterranean migration crisis
  • The rise of nationalism and the far-right in the Mediterranean
  • Energy security and geo-economics in the Mediterranean

Learning Goals of the Corfu Summer School in Mediterranean Security

Recent developments across the Mediterranean have been severely affecting regional countries at the political, economic and social levels, oftentimes with global reverberations, as we witness with the ongoing migration crisis. Protracted regional conflicts such as the Syrian conflagration, Israeli-Palestinian tensions and border disputes are now complemented by asymmetrical threats such as radicalization and the rise of the extreme right. A growing degree of instability, therefore, raises the necessity for a more systematic appraisal of the nature and potential solutions to the multitude of security challenges faced across the Mediterranean basin.​Our aim is to bring together experts and students in an effort to reflect on the multifaceted challenges faced by governments and societies across the Mediterranean and their multi-dimensional effects.