The Future of Multilateral Security Dialogue in the Mediterranean: Lessons Learnt, Opportunities and Choices

The Mediterranean is currently facing a number of challenges, ranging from political instability and intra-state conflicts to economic and social disparities and uncontrolled pockets of criminality. Although the conceptualisation of the Mediterranean as a region is often disputed, this is a space where initiatives for dialogue, cooperation and integration have proliferated in the last two decades as an attempt to tackle some of those challenges either regionally or multilaterally in cooperation with external partners. This paper overviews the existing initiatives, analyses why some previous attempts have failed and examines the elements of the new context that could favour or hinder further attempts to revive regional dialogue and integration, by identifying potential goals and relevant actors to be involved.

Paper produced within the framework of the New-Med Research Network and presented at the seminar entitled "Global Mediterranean: A New Agenda for Multilateral Security Cooperation", organised in Turin on 4-5 June 2014 by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), the Compagnia di San Paolo foundation of Turin, the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.