The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a fragmented region: in spite of its relative cultural and historical homogeneity, it has some of the lowest levels of intra-regional trade, political cooperation and legal migration in the world.
This is largely due to the fact that, since the end of the Second World War, it has experienced the full spectrum of political violence. Conventional, hybrid, and civil wars, revolutions, and terrorism have hindered political and economic development, and created fertile ground for further violence. Breaking this ‘conflict trap’ is imperative for the states of the region, as well as those actors who have a stake in it.
For the EU, the MENA is of strategic importance for three reasons:
- it is an immediate geographic neighbour,
- a crucial passage for goods traveling to and from Europe (including oil and gas),
- and it has been historically unstable.
The region’s security and economic situation is consequently closely intertwined with that of Europe. This explains the Union’s desire to contribute to regional stability through different means such as the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the Barcelona Process and the Union for the Mediterranean.
The EUISS seeks to contribute to the EU’s overall effort in the MENA by providing in-depth analyses on a number of key issues affecting the region.
With the tectonic shifts in the political landscape of the Middle East yet to settle, much still hangs in the balance. For Iran, this presents an opportunity to enhance its standing and gain new influence as countries such as Egypt make the transition towards a more democratic...
A crisis of legitimacy has struck Egypt as a trio of competing powers – the military, the Brotherhood, and so-called ‘third way’ liberals - vie for control of the country and its institutions. What can the West do, if anything, to avert the implosion of this fledgling democracy?
As many European governments introduce their biggest defence budget cuts in years, the impact on their collective military capabilities may be lessened by exploiting two directives designed to integrate the EU defence market.
With the presidential elections in Egypt underway, TAPIR Fellow Tova Norlén explores the process of democratic transition following the Arab Spring in a country where advocates of political Islam are currently locked in an electoral struggle with the military.
The EU must develop a better understanding of Israeli domestic political constraints and set itself clearer goals and objectives if it is to have real influence in the Middle East peace process.
The EU has responded to the Arab democratic wave by reinvigorating and re-launching the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in the Mediterranean. But which multilateral approach should the EU develop under the new circumstances, if at all?
Written by the Director of the EUISS, Álvaro de Vasconcelos, this new book assesses how the Arab democratic wave is part of a wider shift towards a post-Western world in which the global agenda is no longer defined by the West alone and other ‘unfamiliar’ voices may be heard.
Seldom has it been as justified to be pessimistic about developments between the United States, Israel, and Iran. This dysfunctional state of affairs is getting so out of hand that the danger of war is no longer just a remote possibility but instead looms large on the horizon...
Israel is a more complicated country than meets the eye, with a disturbing increase in intra-Israeli religious tensions which Europeans sometimes fail to take into accoun
Iran is in the throes of a transition where its fundamental tenets are being called into question. This paper provides an in-depth assessment of Iranian state and society since the 1979 revolution, focusing particularly on the social and political turmoil of the past five years.
