Conference on the occasion of the MENARA Project Kick-Off
Could we make sense of what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa since 2011? The last five years have been marked by confrontations between revolutionary and reactionary forces, by regional fragmentation and by new forms and focuses of conflict. A newfound geopolitical landscape is unfolding amid these decisive changes. This conference initiates the Middle East and North Africa Regional Architecture, the MENARA project –a three-year EU-funded research initiative, encompassing 14 institutions and lead by CIDOB. The project will map the drivers of change for the regional order and its implications for Europe. This conference contributes to this goal by launching a dialogue on the emergence of new leaderships, regional alliances and overlapping faultlines that are likely to shape the region’s future in the coming decades.
| This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693244 |
Jordi Bacaria, Director, CIDOB
Eduard Soler i Lecha, Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB
Nathalie Tocci, Deputy Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI, Rome)
Change and continuity in MENA societies, polities and narratives
Chair: Nathalie Tocci, Deputy Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI, Rome)
Inputs:
Lorenzo Kamel, Senior Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI, Rome)
Virginie Collombier, Research Fellow, European University Institute (EUI, Florence)
Katerina Dalacoura, Associate Professor, London School of Economics (LSE)
Robert Springborg, Visiting Professor, King’s College London and IAI
Randa Slim, Director of Track II Dialogues initiative, Middle East Institute (Washington DC)
The emerging regional order and overlapping cleavages
Chair: Eduard Soler i Lecha, Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB
Inputs:
Helle Malmvig, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS, Copenhagen)
Karim Makdisi, Associate Professor, American University of Beirut (AUB)
Djallil Lounnas, Assistant Professor, Al Akhawayn University (AUI, Ifrane)
Silvia Colombo, Senior Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI, Rome)
Meliha Altunisik, Professor, Middle East Technical University (METU, Ankara)
Global power shifts, natural resources and sustainable development
Chair: Eckart Woertz, Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB
Inputs:
Erzsébet Rózsa, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (IFAT, Budapest)
Edgar Göll, Head of Research Futures Studies & Participation, Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT, Berlin)
Emanuela Menichetti, Director of the Renewable Energy Division, Observatoire Méditerranéen de I'Energie (OME, Paris)
Martin Keulertz, Research Fellow, King’s College London
Policy challenges, critical junctures, tough decisions
Chair: Pol Morillas, Research Fellow, CIDOB
Inputs:
Aybars Görgülü, Projects Manager, Center for Public Policy and Democracy Studies (PODEM, Istanbul)
Shireen T. Hunter, Research Professor, Georgetown University (Washington DC)
Abdullah Baabood, Director, Gulf Studies Program, Qatar University (Doha)
Francis Ghilès, Associate Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB
Sven Biscop, Director of the Europe in the World Programme, Egmont Institute (Brussels)
