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Home > Collective Security and Multilateral Engagement in the Middle East: Pathways for EU Policy

Collective Security and Multilateral Engagement in the Middle East: Pathways for EU Policy [1]

IAI Papers [2]

Collective Security and Multilateral Engagement in the Middle East: Pathways for EU Policy

[3]
Authors:
Silvia Colombo [4]
Andrea Dessì [5]
18/11/2020

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is experiencing deep and profound challenges spanning the geopolitical and geoceonomic domains, as intra-state rivalry and competition mixes with mounting socio-economic threats and fraying social contracts within multiple states in the region. Stepping back from the brink and developing new and inclusive frameworks for dialogue, de-escalation and confidence building in the region represents a generational challenge, requiring the active buy-in and support of regional actors themselves. The European Union has a vital interest in supporting such objectives, but needs to contend with limited capabilities, a retrenching United States and its lack of internal cohesion to have a positive impact. Against this backdrop, the EU should carefully priorities its engagements, working both internally and externally to improve its policies and leverage vis-à-vis three regional cleavages – the Arab-Israeli, the Saudi-Iranian, and the Arab-Turkish – and a number of associated “hot-spots” in an effort to mitigate the prevalence of zero-sum competition and contain the risk of new conflicts or crises, operationalising the EU’s concept of “principled pragmatism” in the region.

Paper produced in the framework of the FEPS-IAI project “Fostering a New Security Architecture in the Middle East”, November 2020.

iaip2037.pdf [3]

Details

  • Details

    Rome, IAI, November 2020, 22 p.
  • In:
    IAI Papers [2]
  • Issue

    20|37
  • ISBN/ISSN/DOI:
    978-88-9368-159-9

Table of contents

Introduction
1. Regional challenges: Socio-economic turmoil and geopolitical ruptures
2. EU cohesion and coherence: The challenge of (re)building consensus on interests and instruments
3. Stepping back from the brink: EU pathways for dialogue, de-escalation and confidence building in the Middle East
Conclusion
References


Source URL:https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/c03/collective-security-and-multilateral-engagement-middle-east-pathways-eu-policy

Links
[1] https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/c03/collective-security-and-multilateral-engagement-middle-east-pathways-eu-policy [2] https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/lista/all/iai-papers [3] https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iaip2037.pdf [4] https://www.iai.it/en/persone/silvia-colombo [5] https://www.iai.it/en/persone/andrea-dessi