Four years after its launch, Rome MED – Mediterranean Dialogues has established itself as an annual conference and global hub for high-level dialogue aimed at enhancing debate among policy-makers and experts around current trends and challenges stemming from the Mediterranean region. The goal is to lay the groundwork for mutual understanding and trust building among regional actors, as a prerequisite for drafting a positive agenda. The third edition of this Report offers a vast array of insights, data and analyses on political, socio-economic and security dynamics unfolding throughout the region. In particular, the first section of the Report focuses on positive trends and achievements brought forward by regional actors. It also provides policy recommendations to strengthen these positive dynamics, with a view to further improving the socio-economic, political and security contexts in the Mediterranean basin. The second section turns the spotlight on the main security, political, economic and cultural challenges the region is currently facing.
The Report collects insights, analyses and policy recommendations from different perspectives and countries, also thanks to the collaboration of MED research partners and international experts.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1 - Positive Trends and Opportunities
- The Caliphate’s defeat: the future of Iraq - Dlawer Ala’Aldeen, MERI
- The Tunisian exception - Ahmed Driss, CEMI
- Women’s achievements from Morocco to Saudi Arabia - Dina Fakoussa, DGAP
- Natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean: a driver of development - Giuseppe Dentice, Catholic University of S. Heart and ISPI
- Growth in tourism: the Mediterranean scenario - Fathallah Oualalou, OCP Policy Center
- Gulf cities: smarter and smarter - Annalisa Perteghella, ISPI
- Cultural dialogue in the Mediterranean: the Italian initiative - Fabio Cassese, Marialuisa Pappalardo, MAECI
PART 2 - Challenges
SHARED SECURITY
Crises:
- Beyond the JPCOA: the renewal of Iranian diplomacy - Dorothée Schmid, Adrian Giorgio Brillat, IFRI
- The Syrian quagmire: who will win the peace? - Lina Khatib, Chatham House
- Libya: a new beginning - Arturo Varvelli, ISPI
- Yemen: a never-ending conflict? - Adam Baron, ECFR
- Time for EU engagement in Gaza - Hugh Lovatt, ECFR
- Al-Qaeda and IS: conflicts of influence in the south of the Mediterreanean - Ziad A. Akl, Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies
Players:
- Shifting alliances: a risk of further instability - Guney Yildiz, MEI
- The Trump administration and the MENA Region. What strategy? What next? - Ian O. Lesser, GMFUS
- Russia: the power broker? - Andrey Kortunov, RIAC
- Turkey between ambition and reality - Valeria Talbot, ISPI
SHARED PROSPERITY
- Boosting economic reforms - Marek Dabrowski, Bruegel
- Saudi Arabia’s post-oil economy: vast potential, big challenges - Naser Al-Tamimi, Independent Researcher
- Youth unemployment: a common problem with different solutions? - Uri Dadush, Bruegel and OCP Policy Center; Maria Demertzis, Bruegel
- Renewable energy: a solution to climate change - Tayeb Amegroud, OCP Policy Center
MIGRATION
- The Global Compact for Migration: a platform for development - Marta Foresti, Overseas Development Institute
- Migration and demography: planning new responses in Europe and Africa - Stefano M. Torelli, ISPI
- The EU and sub-Saharan Africa: a new path to effective cooperation? - Matteo Villa, ISPI
- Reforming Dublin: a priority for the EU - Luigi Achilli, EUI
CIVIL SOCIETY AND CULTURE
- The riddle of political Islam - Jocelyne Cesari, Birmingham University and Georgetown University
- Challenging cohesion: ethnic-religious militias in Syria and Iraq - Georges Fahmi, EUI
- Arab youth’s furtive dreams - Intissar Fakir, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Restoring children’s future in conflict areas - Silvia Gison, Noemi Pazienti, Save the Children
