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Arab Geopolitics 2020: The Middle East, what kind of future?

From

27
1:00 pm July 2020

To

27
5:30 pm July 2020

Live broadcast

Today, the Arab region is undergoing another cycle of wars, after four Arab-Israeli conflicts, three Israeli-Lebanese wars, three Gulf wars, the creation of a self-styled “caliphate”, eight Arab revolutions, while two low-intensity and three high-intensity civil wars are still ongoing.

In the past three years, the struggle around Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya has polarised the area, seemingly around religious oppositions, but the reality shows competing regional clusters in the arena of destabilised countries and against a possible rising Iranian power.

On the backdrop of this regional competition major powers, among which Russia and China, are opportunistically exploiting the enduring turmoil to recover or expand their influence spheres, with indirect impact on energy security of supply.

The great loser in this power struggle is civil society; the same civil society that made its powerful voice and claim for change heard in 2011. War struck societies are mostly engaged in survival, but in some countries vigorous protests are staged that relay the same quest for concrete reforms.

Within this perspective, the NATO Defense College Foundation is organizing an international conference entitled “Arab Geopolitics 2020: what kind of future for the Middle East?” in collaboration with the Policy Center for the New South and the NATO Defense College on July 27th 2020 in Rome, Italy.

The structure of the conference will be articulated in two panels. The first panel will explore the evolving geopolitics and politics of the region, like the role of Iran in the Gulf power competition, the future of the Iran-Russia-Turkey triangle, the alternatives for Saudi Arabia regarding an exit strategy from the war in Yemen and for reshaping its hegemony in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the outcomes of the reconstruction in Iraq and Syria.

The second will be a panel on regional social development. The main themes considered will be: the future of authoritarian states, the restructuring of the social contract with diminishing oil revenues, the evolution of the women’s role and rights and how to re-involve in social participation a disenfranchised youth.

The conference will be held at the Sala delle Belle Arti, Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Via Alberto Cadlolo, 101 - 00136 Rome. It will also be live streamed on our YouTube channel as well as on our Facebook page.

AGENDA

13:00-13:30

Arrival of participants - Registration

13:30

Welcome remarks

Alessandro Minuto-Rizzo, President, NATO Defense College Foundation, Rome *

James Huber, Military Assistant to the Dean, NATO Defense College, Rome 

Karim El Aynaoui, President, Policy Center for the New South, Rabat (Virtual) *

13:45-14:00

Opening remarks

Gilles Kepel, Scientific Director, Middle East Mediterranean Freethinking Platform, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano *

14:00-15:15

Session I: An Unsettled Middle East

Chair:

Claire Spencer, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King’s College, London

Speakers:

Giovanni Romani, Head, Middle East and North Africa Section, Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, NATO HQ, Brussels (Virtual) *

Youssef Cherif, Deputy Director, Columbia Global Centers, Tunis *

Youness Abouyoub, Director, Governance and State-Building Division for the MENA Region, United Nations, New York (Virtual) *

Mitchell Belfer, President, Euro-Gulf Information *

Q&A session

15:15-15:45

Coffee/Tea break

15:45-16:00

Special intervention

Maged Abdelaziz, Permanent Observer to the UN, Arab League, New York (Virtual) *

13:30-14:45

Session II: The Civil Society, An Open Issue

Chair:

Maurizio Caprara, Foreign Affairs Commentator, Corriere della Sera *

Speakers:

Robert Watkins, Assistant Director; Head of the Middle East and North Africa Division, DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, Geneva *

Brahim Oumansour, Associate Fellow, Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World, Geneva; and Associate Research Fellow, Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, Paris *

Sofia Barbarani, Freelance Journalist *

Mohammed Loulichki, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South, Rabat (Virtual) *

Q&A session

17:15-17:30

Closing remarks

Speakers
Mohammed Loulichki
Senior Fellow
Mohammed Loulichki is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and an Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. He brings over 40 years of comprehensive experience in diplomacy, conflict resolution, and human rights. He has served in various roles including as a member and Deputy Head of the Moroccan delegation to the 3rd Conference on the Law of the Sea (1982-1990), Head of the Department of Legal Affairs and Treaties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1988-1991), and General Director for Multilateral Affairs in the same ministry (2003-2006).   He also acted as Morocco's Ambassador to Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia (1995-1999), and was the Moroccan Government's Ambassador Coordinator with MINURSO (1999-2001). Furthermore, he served ...
Gilles Kepel
Scientific Director, Middle East Mediterranean Freethinking Platform, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano
...
James Huber
Military Assistant to the Dean, NATO Defense College, Rome
...
Claire Spencer
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King’s College, London
...
Giovanni Romani
Head, Middle East and North Africa Section, Political Affairs and Security Policy Division, NATO HQ, Brussels (Virtual)
...
Youness Abouyoub
Director, Governance and State-Building Division for the MENA Region, United Nations; Former Senior Political Advisor to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Libya
Former head of the political office of the UN Under-Secretary General for Conflict Prevention and senior political advisor to the UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Burundi. He directed the political office of the UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Yemen and acted as his senior special advisor. He also was the senior political officer in charge of the regional affairs in the UN political mission to Libya (UNSMIL) and head of office of the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Libya. He also served as Senior Regional Expert in the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on Sudan (Darfur) and worked for the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (New York) and the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi. Mr. Youness Abouyoub holds a PhD in politi ...
Maged Abdelaziz
Permanent Observer to the UN, Arab League, New York (Virtual)
...
Brahim Oumansour
Associate Fellow, Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World, Geneva; and Associate Research Fellow, Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, Paris
...