This multidisciplinary edited volume examines wideranging exchanges between France and its Mediterranean neighbours and their impact. It questions the changing notion of a Mediterranean space and its representation centrality and relevance in terms of Frances international relations under Sarkozys presidency from the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean and its complex articulations with the European Unions own agenda in the region to the tortuous relations with Libya made even more complicated by the 2011 Arab Spring. Beyond the realm of state relations and formal policy networks the volume examines the crucial role played by diasporas the interplay between postcolonial and transnational representations in the fields of cultural diplomacy cinema and architecture and considers how these can produce merged or hybrid identities.