Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Economics and Political Science - Department of Political Science

The collapse of the Soviet Union was considered the most geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, according to Putin. Therefore, when he came in power in 2000, he decided to follow the strategy of 2come back3 to the international stage. One of the regions where he applied this strategy is the Mediterranean region whichwasalready shaped by the EU foreign policies tailored to its geopolitical role perception. As a result, the Mediterranean region was turned into a 2Western lake3 through partnerships economically, politically and normatively because even in the era of globalization, the geographic proximity for the EU is crucial. After the Popular Uprisings erupted in some Mediterranean region countries, the geopolitical situation was in turmoil and had to be reshaped by the global actors in a time when Russia consideredthese Uprisings as an opportunity in the context of the rise of the multipolar world instead of Western unipolar one. Therefore, Putin increased the engagement in the events to strengthen Russia{u2019}s geopolitical presence in the Mediterranean. At the same time, the EU{u2019}s role became limited to humanitarian assistance except some member states that were involved bilaterally with some of the Mediterranean region countries.Therefore, the EU{u2019}s geopolitical role in the Mediterranean region was questioned, especially by analyzing its role in the Syrian crisis

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