Infrastructures and Power in the Middle East and North Africa

Over the last decade, the Mediterranean and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has experienced profound and far-reaching social, political and economic transformations that have contributed to unprecedented levels of volatility and uncertainty across the region. Some of these shifts have reshaped many of the traditional features of the geopolitical order in place in the region for decades, while others might have the potential to do so in the near future. Increase competition among regional powers but also new stakes by emerging global powers are redefining the contours of regional geopolitics and the way in which this region relates to broader global trends.
One of those trends is the importance of connectivity and the control and property of physical or virtual infrastructures.
Against this backdrop, the workshop examined the challenges for each type of infrastructure; the players involved (both from the regional and the global levels); the dynamics of power resulting from their interplay; instances of regional cooperation or conflict; and the implications for the EU and its responses, policies and diplomacy around these infrastructures.
Analysing regional dynamics through the lenses of infrastructure and power will allow to discuss the shifting position of the region in world affairs but also to assess how global dynamics impact the MENA region itself.