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Cooperation Among Adversaries. Regionalism in the Middle East

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Cooperation Among Adversaries. Regionalism in the Middle East Cooperation among adversaries. Regionalism in the Middle East. Master (M.A) in Advanced European and International Studies Trilingual Branch. Academic year 2009/10 Author: Supervisors: Katarzyna Krókowska Dagmar Röttsches – Dubois Matthias Wächter 1 Cooperation among adversaries. Regionalism in the Middle East. Katarzyna Krókowska Master (M.A) in Advanced European and International Studies Centre International de Formation Européenne Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales Trilingual Branch. Academic year 2009/10 Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3 Structure of the thesis ........................................................................................................... 7 Understanding and explaining regional cooperation .................................................. 8 Chapter 1: International Relations theory: approaches to understanding regional cooperation .................................................................................................. 11 Realism ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 Transactionalism ........................................................................................................................................ 15 Game Theory ................................................................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 2: Governments, governance and regionalism.................................... 18 Governance ............................................................................................................................ 18 Economic governmental initiatives ................................................................................ 23 Ministerial collaboration ................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 3: The influence of external actors on regionalism ........................... 26 The role of the European Union ....................................................................................... 26 Obstacles to regionalism promotion ................................................................................................ 28 Instruments and funding ........................................................................................................................ 29 Political leverage......................................................................................................................................... 30 The role of the United States ............................................................................................. 32 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 35 Chapter 4: Civil society dialogue and cooperation ............................................. 36 The concept of civil society................................................................................................ 37 Civil society in the Middle East ......................................................................................... 37 Public opinion on regional cooperation ........................................................................ 40 Cooperation initiatives ....................................................................................................... 41 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 44 Chapter 5. Political impact of trade cooperation ................................................ 45 Defining trade cooperation ............................................................................................... 46 Economic cost of conflict .................................................................................................... 46 Benefits of trade cooperation ........................................................................................... 47 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 48 2 Chapter 6: Water and environmental cooperation ............................................ 50 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 51 Hydrologic conditions of the region ............................................................................... 52 The role of water in Middle Eastern conflicts .............................................................. 52 Regional initiatives and agreements on shared water resources .......................... 53 New technologies and creative solutions ...................................................................... 56 Desalination .................................................................................................................................................. 57 Virtual water ................................................................................................................................................. 58 Environmental initiatives .................................................................................................. 59 External actors’ influence on water conflict ................................................................. 60 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 62 Conclusions: .................................................................................................................. 63 Bibliography: ................................................................................................................ 66 Introduction For the purpose of this thesis, the sub-region of the wider Middle East is considered. Eastern Mediterranean sub-region, known as Mashreq or Levant, is also called "the Near East sub-region". It comprises of five territories: the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Lebanon, Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Syrian Arab Republic. The total area is 1.5 million km2. Turkey borders the sub-region to the north, Iraq to the east, to the south by Saudi Arabia and to the west by Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. The population in the Mashreq was 80 million inhabitants in 2005. Average density was estimated at 92 inhabitants/km2, ranging from 64 inhabitants/km2 in Jordan to 615 inhabitants/km2 in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. About one-third of the population is rural. Annual population growth ranges from barely 1.2 percent in Lebanon to 3.5 percent in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with a regional average of 2.1 percent in the period 1995-2005.1 The thesis follows a definition of European Commission, which understands regional cooperation as ―general concept that refers to all efforts on the part of (usually) neighbouring countries to address issues of common interest‖2. I will offer alternative classifications of regionalism, region building and regional cooperation in the following chapter. The thesis does not aim to prove that regionalism is a pervasive feature of the 1 US Department of State http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/ (accessed 11.02.2010) 2 European Commission. 1995. Communication on European Community Support for regional economic Integration Efforts among developing countries. COM (95) 219. 3 region. Thinking this way would be ignoring the harsh reality of enduring conflict. So far bilateralism, dealing with other countries on one to one basis, and unilateralism, in the form of assault and rule of other nation, have dominated the conduct of international affairs in the Middle East. Nevertheless, I assume that, due of the fact that nations and peoples of the region are locked in the mad logic of escalating violence, the situation is not sustainable. The paper sheds light on low-scale cooperation efforts that stand a chance of contributing to peace building. By focusing on the social and political factors, I do not wish to imply that other variables are irrelevant. Far from it. My study leaves some variations unexplained. I do not seek to offer a comprehensive explanation of regional integration. Its purpose is to demonstrate certain facets of cooperation in the Middle East. Through more general approach my hope is not to provide complete and definitive solutions to puzzles regarding regional cooperation but, instead, to outline some ideas and arouse curiosity for a fascinating phenomenon of regionalism. I am rethinking Middle Eastern politics in three ways. First, the inter-state politics of the region is often understood with reference to the defence and security. I do not seek to undermine the opinion that security is the major concern of policy-makers in the region. Instead I suggest a different perspective on the Middle East and demonstrate that in many issue areas, cooperation is desirable and feasible and can form a positive first step for confidence building measures, which is a pre-requisite of a deeper integration. Second, the new approaches to international theory the role of civil society and environment on policy-making will be discussed. Thirdly, the thesis is concerned primarily with multilateral cooperation, but will also discuss bilateral cooperation where relevant.
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