Regional (Dis)order in the Middle East: Historical Legacies and Current Shifts

The New-Med Research Network organized an international conference in Bologna, Italy, on 11 April 2017 to examine a number of root drivers for the contemporary crises gripping a large part of the Middle East and North Africa. This report summarizes the proceedings of the conference, held at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe and co-organized with the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI). Structured around three panel sessions, participants included a number of leading policymakers, academics and journalists invited to debate the historical evolution of the regional state system, the drawing of borders, the failures of governance and socio-economic development, the role of non-state actors, as well as regional and international powers. Launched in 2014, the New-Med Research Network is run by IAI in cooperation with the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the Compagnia di San Paolo of Turin.

Report of the international conference “Regional (Dis)order in the Middle East: Historical Legacies and Current Shifts” held in Bologna on 11 April 2017 and jointly organized by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and the The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe within the framework of the New-Med Research Network.