Geostrateški i sigurnosni aspekti potencijalnih utjecaja suvremenih migrantskih kretanja na Dalmaciju

Abstract

In 2015, the European geographic and political space faced culmination of one of the greatest migration crises in its history, which particularly affected the politically vulnerable region of Southeast Europe as a traditional area of migration movements. These statements gain more importance if we take into consideration the fact that Southeast Europe, as an area of traditional interlocking of geopolitical force lines, nowadays is additionally burdened with security challenges, which makes its geostrategic position more important. Moreover, as it is affected by the migrant crisis in the north and the east, and considering tourism as one of its core economic activities, the Republic of Croatia must pay special attention to maintaining an image of a safe tourist destination, although Croatian tourist destinations like Istria and Dalmatia are not directly affected by the migrant crisis. Therefore, the authors discuss geostrategic and security aspects as well as the probabilities of Dalmatia’s exposure to the effects of the recent migrant crisis. In fact, the authors in the article confirm that the physical-geographical features and political-territorial fragmentation in immediate neighbourhood do not make Dalmatia as an attractive solution for migratory movements. However, the authors also conclude that the political instability of the neighbourhood, which is potentially strengthened by the impact of the migrant movements, with the great potential of conflict at the ethno-religious level, may produce new security challenges in Southeast Europe and indirectly in Dalmatia as well.