The European Union seems to be the geopolitical space that symbolises an international chessboard that the proposers of this session have defined as disordered because it is unstable, fluid, chaotic and now lacks global leadership. The geopolitical weakness of the European Union is accentuated by the second term of Donald Trump, who prefers bilateral relations and seems interested in loosening the historic Euro-Atlantic alliance.

The European Union has provided national responses to the global challenges of international migration. The growing migratory pressure from the southern shores of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has not prompted European states to promote a robust common migration and security policy. The predominance of nation-state logic does not allow the European Union to respond to and manage the major challenges of this disordered world: migratory flows, Islamist terrorism, energy security, etc. This presents Europe with internal and international geopolitical problems. Internal geopolitics, because the conflict between the national interests of the EU member states has been exacerbated by the internal conflict within public opinion, which has never been so divided and polarised on these issues. International geopolitics, because on a global scale the European Union appears increasingly fragile and irrelevant to the extent that it risks playing no role in the resolution of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The aim of this paper is to trace the European geopolitical horizons, focusing on the causes and consequences of the conflicting management of migratory phenomena, especially with regard to the new electoral geography of Europe.

In addressing the complexities of global relational dynamics, geopolitics increasingly turns to analyses of popular processes to explain the resulting international order. Contemporary times demand a focused reflection on the role of women, who are often victims of objectification and marginalization - issues deeply intertwined with key concepts such as identity, security, and migration. Female objectification is not merely a social issue but a pivotal factor in the construction of geopolitical strategies. Women frequently occupy the center of narratives conveying messages of both hospitality and power, with their representation profoundly shaping state control policies. Migrant women emerge as potential agents of change and carriers of cultural diversity, yet they are also perceived as threats to traditional values, exacerbating political and social tensions as well as misunderstandings in host countries. Embracing these reflections, European geopolitics is increasingly concerned with fostering inclusive perspectives aimed at reducing the gender gap and ensuring universal human rights. By drawing on the feminist studies approach -which highlights the anachronism of separating public action from the domestic sphere- this contribution seeks to address the current status of women as geopolitical subjects. The analysis is framed within two overarching themes: first, a discussion of the challenges surrounding female migration and its connections to the broader geopolitical context; second, a critical examination of the European Union’s interventions aimed at consolidating the values of equity and solidarity upon which it is founded. The analysis consciously avoids the oversimplifications characteristic of occidentalism, instead embracing the critical perspective of scientific research to ensure a nuanced understanding of these interconnected issues.

This contribution intends to enrich the session Geopolitics of Migration and Security in a Changing Europe through an eminently cultural geography reading of the migratory journey. On the basis of a reflection advanced in recent times, we propose a) the idea of the journey as a tripartite scanning device: the stasis, the trigger, the experience, and b) the paradoxical alteration of the paradigm triggered by Europe's securitarian migration policies. Through the methodological references proper to the geographical discourse, which chooses to cross, with heuristic intentions, the literary perspective, an itinerary through myth, the sacred word, literature and experience has thus been proposed in order to trace, highlight and knot within a single cognitive afflatus the paradigmatic tripartition of the journey, a true geographical connector. In order to unveil the alteration of the paradigm consolidated in myth and literary perspective, thanks to Merlau Ponty's insights, we have identified chiasmus as the essential rhetorical figure. The push-backs of migrants and the policies and rhetorics of deterrence, in our view, are unnatural alterations of the chiastic structure: imperfect chiasmus. That of imperfect, incomplete Chiasmus, determined by missed landings, by rejections, by the shipwrecks of migrants, the delay of rhetoric and narratives or, in fact health reasons. It is the ship the chosen semiophor. Thirty years have passed since the Vlora appeared, with twenty thousand Albanian migrants, on the Apulian coast and, even today, ships at anchor tell of trips suspended a few strokes from the quay. The Diciotti blocked in the harbor by the political-media debate; the quarantine ships as the Moby Zazà, moored for the quarantine of migrants south of Porto Empedocle. The Diciotti ship will be our strong example. In a very tough geopolitical context and domestic politics, the paradox of the interrupted Chiasmus occurs in front of the coast of Catania.

Recent economic crises and geopolitics events (including trade wars among the US, China and Europe; Suez; the Ukrainian war; the crisis in the Middle East, COVID and post-COVID, and others) have posed serious threats to global supply chains’ ability to ensure uninterrupted end-to-end flows, from raw materials to end customers. Current geographical configurations of logistics networks seem to be outdated and “fragile” to face uncertainty coming from geopolitics and economic developments – including security risks. Global supply chains’ disruptions (actual or potential) and crises seem to be become the new normal in the global economy. The only certainty when designing global networks seems to be uncertainty. What should be done? How to cope with such risks? What kind of strategies, policies and actions should be designed to cope with relevant impacts? How global networks should be (re)designed in the event of crises to determine new geographical configurations, in particular in Europe? Additional research questions include: are global supply chains bound to become “shorter”, thus, moving from global spatial patterns to more “regional” ones? Are risks of “empty shelves” (that is, unavailability of products for consumers) going to increase in the future? Some major research and practice findings pinpoint the role of resilience as a renewed guiding principle supporting the geographical reconfiguration of global networks and territories. However, effective and practical contributions about how to implement such a principle are dramatically missing currently. The paper develops original contributions to support decision-making processes of economic actors and policymakers facing such challenges. The methodological approach is based on literature findings and on-the-field data collection consisting of interviews to logistics and supply chain experts, executives and professionals “in the driving seat” in relevant industries in Europe, including wood & furniture, domestic appliances, food, apparel, eyewear, multimodal transport and logistics and IT.