Spain's Present Role as a Crossroad

Abstract

The location of the Iberian Peninsula as the most distant point from Asia within the European continent makes it the closest to Africa, from which it is separated by only 14 km., and to the Atlantic Ocean and thus the Americas. This gives Spain a special strategic value. This explains why the peninsula, and Spain in particular, has been an essential crossroad in world history, as an intersection of the routes where Europe meets Africa and which cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. These facts, the integration of Spain into the NATO alliance, some initiatives that Spain has backed, and occasionally sponsored, about security and cooperation in the Mediterranean, are reviewed in this paper, as well as both the relationship between Spain and the Maghreb countries and between Spain and those in the Western Mediterranean.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 26, 1991
Accession Number
ADA233609

Entities

People

  • Jose Lage

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Classification
  • Europe
  • Foreign Policy
  • Gibraltar
  • Governments
  • Iberian Peninsula
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • North Africa
  • Procurement
  • Regions
  • Security
  • Spain
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).