New trends in power and politics in the Middle East and North
Africa
Wednesday 31 January 2018, 08.30-16.00
Eigtveds Pakhus
Strandgade 25G
1401 Copenhagen K
Background
Since the outbreak of the Arab uprisings in 2011, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has gone through a multiplicity of
interrelated conflicts over power and politics. Pre-existing domestic, regional and global conflict potentials have been unleashed,
and new dynamics have emerged. According to many observers, the region today faces a complex crisis that in its totality surpasses
anything the region has experienced since the European decolonization in the middle of the 20
th
century. These conflicts are
primarily challenges faced by governments and societies inside the region, but are deeply interconnected with broader patterns in
global and international politics and thus also interrelate with foreign and domestic policies of European and American
governments.
This conference organized by DIIS ∙ Danish Institute for International
Studies in collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs aims to provide an analysis of six key trends in the conflicts over power and politics in the MENA region today. These
trends include the increasing rivalry and competition between regional powers in the MENA region and they include the protracted
domestic conflicts between autocratic governments and militarized societies. They encompass the decreasing performance of the
region’s rentier-based
political economies and the changing forms of American hegemony in the MENA region and the
emboldening of its challengers. Finally, they cover the changing forms of the European Union’s foreign policy in the region
following the nationalist turn in Europe and the increase in migration and terrorism.