Prospects for creating a regional security structure in the Middle East

Abstract

‘The Middle East talks the talk, but it doesn't walk the walk’, argues Heller when relating to attempts by parties in the region to create some kind of a cooperative security relationship. Concepts of regional security have simply been grafted onto traditional political-military doctrine, with the result that multilateralism has become just another vehicle for pursuing long-standing policy. He shows this with regard to the Middle East peace process as well as the Barcelona Process and attempts to forge a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. What should be done in order to promote the process? Heller's conclusion is that moving along the track of cognitive convergence while bypassing the sequencing problem by simultaneously pursuing both peace and security building will help mitigate some of the major problems in regional security.