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EU-GCC relations

18 December 2023
The EU and GCC have a long-standing partnership, but it has been hampered by institutional differences, contrasting values and priorities, and conflicting interests. This Brief explores what steps need to be taken to ensure that the partnership can realise its full potential.

Rebuilding trust

13 July 2023
This Brief examines how EU-Iraq relations have evolved since 2003 and how they can be enhanced. The authors argue that the EU needs to revise its perception of Iraq in the light of how the country has changed over the past two decades, and explores ways for the EU to pursue a more mutually beneficial partnership with the country.

Footprints in the sand

15 March 2023
In recent years both China and India have expanded their presence in the Middle East. This Brief shows however that their footprint in the Maghreb is primarily economic and remains light in comparison to that of the long-standing partner of the countries in the region: the EU.

The summit of Arab states

01 December 2022
In the wake of the Arab League summit that took place in early November in Algiers – providing an opportunity for an energy-emboldened Algeria to assert its regional influence – this Brief examines why the organisation has often been criticised for its ineffectiveness, and how the EU and the League of Arab States might improve their institutional cooperation.

Arab youth futures

29 September 2021
A survey conducted among young people in the Middle East early in 2021 probed how this generation feels about the future. The results belie the perception that young people in the region are pessimistic or fatalistic, instead highlighting a relative optimism, and concerns over issues that they feel will be of particular importance in their future, such as healthcare and political representation.

How the Islamic State sees the future

21 April 2021
Since Islamic State lost its territory in Iraq and Syria, it has adapted its future script according to its circumstances. This Brief explores how the organisation invests in and manipulates an end-of-times narrative that exerts strong appeal for its followers, and will influence its next steps.

Curse or blessing?

30 March 2021
This Brief examines the oil-conflict nexus and analyses the effects of the recent pandemic-induced oil price shock on three vulnerable, conflict-affected countries.

The EU’s chemical weapons sanctions regime

31 July 2020
Concerns about the ero­sion of the ‘taboo’ on chemical weapons use have deepened in recent years, in particular following the chemical weapons attacks that have taken place in the Syrian conflict. The sanctions regime against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons which the EU adopted in October 2018 constitutes the Union’s first coercive instrument against chemical weapons, and is an attempt by the EU to support the multilateral chemical disarmament regime after efforts to frame a response via the United Nations Security Council failed.

Deciphering China in the Middle East

30 June 2020
Beijing’s new activism in the Middle East reflects the evolution of Chinese foreign policy thinking, in line with the country’s rise as an economic superpower. Economic goals rather than ideological considerations have become key criteria in China’s selection of partners in the region, especially those which can provide the energy resources necessary to fuel China’s continued dynamic growth. Although as yet China is not overtly seeking to displace the US as the dominant power in the region, its penetration of the Middle East inevitably has far-reaching foreign policy and security implications.

From bad to worse? The impact(s) of Covid-19 on conflict dynamics

11 June 2020
The global crisis caused by the Covid-19 outbreak has had particularly disruptive consequences for conflict-affected countries around the world. Armed groups have capitalised on the crisis, while the global distraction caused by the pandemic has made it difficult to seize opportunities for peace. This Brief analyses key repercussions in conflict-affected countries in general, and in five countries in particular: Colombia, Libya, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen.

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