International Cooperation

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is characterised by its diversity in political systems, economic conditions, and social structures. It is home to a mix of high-income countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as low-income and conflict-affected states like Yemen and Iraq. This diversity creates a complex environment for think tanks. Political instability in some areas, coupled with economic uncertainty, presents a challenging landsca ...

This paper examines the complex interplay between global climate ambitions and national interests within the New South—defined as a diverse group of emerging economies, each pursuing distinct geopolitical strategies, economic priorities, and development goals—seen through a realist lens at the COP29 climate summit. As the climate crisis deepens, the geopolitical stakes involved in climate governance become more pronounced. The New South, grappling with the dual challenges of economi ...

This paper explores the urgent need for a paradigm shift in humanitarian aid within conflict and post-conflict settings in the MENA region, advocating for a ‘developmental humanitarianism’ approach that integrates immediate relief with long-term development goals. Focusing on the limitations of traditional aid, particularly in protracted crises such as in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza, the paper argues for innovative financing mechanisms and a realist perspective that aligns humani ...

Significant historical milestones have redefined global power structures and shaped the evolution of transatlantic relations. From the Peace of Westphalia to the end of the Cold War, international relations have undergone major transitions. The fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc created new dynamics within the transatlantic alliance, offering both challenges and opportunities for Western countries to realign their strategies in a rapidly changing world. ...

Subsea data cables are essential to the functioning of today’s globally and digitally connected economies and societies. The world’s emails, bank transfers, WhatsApp messages, and social media posts travel through undersea cables. Dependence on this infrastructure continues to deepen, leading states and regional organizations to recognize the need to provide adequate protection to an infrastructure that is fragile and vulnerable to unintentional (and intentional) disruption.   ...

The issue of migration between Europe and Africa is not just a humanitarian or social dilemma, but a strategic challenge that will shape the twenty-first century. At its core, it reflects the collision of powerful forces—migration, climate change, human development, energy resources, rare commodities, and demographic pressures—each with significant geopolitical implications. Among these, migration, climate change, and human development stand out as critical issues that exacerbate an ...

The bilateral relationship between Morocco and India has passed through three distinct phases, culminating in the current stage of strategic partnership. Initially marked by diplomatic formalities and limited engagement, the relationship gradually transitioned into a period of economic and cultural exchange, laying the groundwork for more substantial collaboration. This Policy Paper analyzes the historical trajectory of Morocco-India relations, tracing the development from these ear ...

  This paper was originally published on t20brasil.org The resurgence of Neo protectionism as a reality is creating a pressing need to establish New Industrial Policies (NIPs) capable of striking a balance between Global Value Chains (GVC) managers' quest for efficiency and policy makers' need for more increasing resilience or national security in a turmoiled geopolitical landscape. Furthermore, although NIPs might pursue legitimate non-economic objectives, they are often captured ...

Le minilatéralisme, approche flexible et rapide de la coopération internationale, s'avère efficace pour relever des défis communs entre un petit nombre d'États. Inspiré du « Dialogue 5+5 » méditerranéen, ce concept est proposé pour renforcer la coopération euro-africaine dans l'espace atlantique, en créant un forum « 3+3 » réunissant l'Espagne, la France, le Portugal, le Maroc, la Mauritanie et le Sénégal. Ce cadre permettrait de répondre aux enjeux sécuritaires, économiques et migr ...

The UN-led Summit for the Future represents both a significant opportunity and a formidable challenge for global development. While its ambitious agenda has the potential to drive meaningful progress, it also faces substantial obstacles that could impede its success. By learning from past experiences, fostering genuine multilateral cooperation, and ensuring clear and accountable commitments, the Summit can enhance the prospects for development. Ultimately, the Summit’s success will ...

Immigration has never been without tensions. In the United States, immigration remains a contentious issue that now, more than ever, dominates election campaigns. A 727-kilometer wall has been constructed on the US-Mexico border to halt the influx of migrants from the south. In Europe, the rise of far-right parties over the past twenty years has culminated in them becoming a major political force in the European Parliament ahead of the June 2024 elections. The tension around immigr ...

The 13 kilometer-square settlement near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, is a symbol of human failure. Kutupalong does not harvest diamonds, rare earth, or oil; rather it produces misery. It houses refugees—one million plus. Most are Rohingya people, Muslims driven out of their homes in the state of Rakhine, Myanmar, formerly a British colony known as Burma, wedged between India and China with 50 million citizens and 135 ethnic groups. Kutupalong is the world’s largest refugee camp, densely ...

This Paper was originally published on euromesco.net   In 2004 the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) became the policy framework setting the scene for EU interactions with its neighbours. The launch of this policy framework occurred in a context of relative stability and peace in Europe’s neighbourhood, at a time when the EU was redrawing its borders through the 2004 big bang enlargement. Nonetheless, the ENP was doomed to face a panoply of conflicts, crises, and even wars. No o ...

Cet article examine l'évolution des relations entre les États-Unis d’Amérique et l'Afrique, en mettant en lumière la nature cyclique de l'engagement américain et ses implications pour les deux parties. Historiquement, l'Afrique n'a pas été une priorité constante dans la politique étrangère américaine, avec des périodes de collaboration intense alternant avec des moments de négligence relative. Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, l'engagement des États- Unis en Afrique e ...

En mars 2024, la Commission européenne a annoncé, à Bruxelles, le lancement d'un partenariat sur les migrations avec la Mauritanie. Ylva Johanasson, Commissaire aux affaires intérieures, et Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine, ministre mauritanien de l'Intérieur et de la décentralisation, ont signé une déclaration commune officialisant ledit partenariat. La Commission européenne a annoncé les principes directeurs de l'accord, qui résonnent sans surprise avec le dernier pact ...

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), created on September 16, 2023, brings together Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso under a mutual defense agreement. The signing of the charter relating to this alliance, which bears the name Liptako-Gourma, was followed by meetings and plans for initiatives that will push the new structure further towards statutes for the alliance, transforming it into a confederation. As an intermediate measure, the three states have already envisaged the creation of ...

Tanks Are Not Yet Deployed Containers are in place, razor wire and metal barriers, nine meters high. Dogs sniff for illegal intruders, spyware registers noise, alerting border patrol units to people approaching the border, trying to evade National Guard troops. Tanks, mind you, have not yet been deployedon the 1954 miles (3145 kilometer) border between Mexico and the U.S. Migrants who approach dare to pass through ferocious desert, climb harsh mountains, jump on freight trains pass ...

L’actualité politique en Afrique est marquée par une série de ruptures qui fait écarquiller les yeux de certains observateurs. Une vague de coups d’État, le retrait de la France de certains pays du continent, la fin du G5 Sahel, la création de l’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES) et le disloquement d’une des Communautés économiques régionales (CER) les plus « intégrées » d’Afrique, la CEDEAO, sont des évènements, tantôt perçus comme une bouffée d’air frais et un espoir de renouveau a ...

Most high-income countries will experience declines in their populations over the next few decades. Some negative consequences of aging are on the horizon: greater fiscal imbalances and risks of economic stagnation. Immigration may by a way for those countries to mitigate the tendency. On the source side of immigration flows, brain drain is a risk. The policy paper presents the case of Japan, a nation that has grappled with the consequences of a declining and aging population fo ...

L’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES), créée le 16 septembre 2023, rassemble dans un accord de défense mutuelle le Mali, le Niger et le Burkina Faso. La signature de la charte afférente à cette alliance qui porte le nom du Liptako-Gourma a été suivie de rencontre et de projets d’initiatives qui poussent plus loin la nouvelle structure vers des statuts de l’alliance pour la transformer en confédération. Comme mesure intermédiaire, les trois États ont d’ores et déjà envisa ...

Nusrat Farooq is an international security and policy expert whose research is at the intersection of emerging technology, international relations, and trust and safety. She is a 2022 alumna of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about her here.   With the advent of social media more than a decade ago, and now with the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, international security has become increasingly complex in terms of its cross-sectoral and t ...

The destruction of a vibrant and historic nation, sprinkled with color and culture, turned into a footnote of geopolitics. The more than 377,000 war victims disappeared from global headlines. The official fighting ended in Yemen on March 29, 2022. A ceasefire was declared by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition and the rebellious Houthis. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, praised “the wave of reconciliation” that swept across the region. The main foreign supporter of Yemen’s Houthi—Iran— ...

The Atlantic Basin has long lacked diplomatic and political initiatives embracing it as a whole. In that regard, it stands out from other oceans, as focus on the North Atlantic has largely overshadowed the "Rest". Nevertheless, a series of recent initiatives point to a possible solution to this long institutional absence. Building on decades of reflection and recent momentum, an emerging pan-Atlanticism might be on the horizon. ...

It gives me pleasure to introduce the 2023 edition of Atlantic Currents, the annual report on Atlantic affairs which the Policy Center for the New South has issued since 2014. For this 10th edition, experts from 27 countries were invited to state their views on dynamics of interest to our shared ocean. Their respective inputs made this issue the culmination of a decade of investigation, studies, and analyses that can help understand better the multifaceted challenges and opportunit ...

The Policy Center for the New South, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, has hosted the 11th edition of its annual Atlantic Dialogues International Conference in Marrakech from December 14 to 16, 2022. Over 350 guests from 60 different countries have taken part in this first in-person edition in three years, under the theme “Cooperation in a Mutating World: Opportunities of the Wider Atlantic”. The most recent edition in this format, held in 2019 address “The S ...

Les Dialogues Stratégiques, une collaboration entre HEC Center for Geopolitics et Policy Center fort he New South, représentent une plateforme d'analyse et d'échange biannuelle réunissant des experts, des praticiens, des décideurs politiques, ainsi que el monde universitaire et les médias au service d'une réflexion critique et approfondie sur les tendances politiques mondiales et sur une problématique d'intérêt régional, d'importance commune à al fois pour l'Europe et l'Afrique. Ce ...

This report was originally published on hss.de   This report presents an analysis and recommendations regarding EU-Africa relations with a focus on the green transition and energy, the first priority area of the EU’s Comprehensive Strategy with Africa. It aims at identifying the areas in climate and energy policy in which jointly owned cooperation is possible, and how the partnership, ultimately, can unlock mutual benefits. Specifically, the report examines global challenges prese ...

Like many countries of the Global South, South Africa espouses an independent, non-aligned approach to foreign policy. This approach has been criticized during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as a superficial excuse to be ‘soft’ on Russia. Deeper reflection and analysis however, points to a finely calibrated multi-alignment strategy, which allows South Africa to secure its national interests while carefully balancing relations with the United States (U.S.), European Union (EU) and ot ...

This brief was originally published in gmfus.org   The EU is increasing, at home and abroad, its use of state-of-the-art technologies in its border management. But guarantees of their consistently appropriate use are lacking. Migration increasingly involves digital tools. Internet, smartphones, and social media are of paramount importance for people on the move. Border management is also becoming more digitalized, with technological tools being used to accelerate legal internatio ...

Marianna Albuquerque and Santiago Theoduloz are 2022 alumni of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about Marianna here and Santiago here.  From our experience of participating in the ADEL Program and the Atlantic Dialogues in 2022, we learned that the Atlantic countries have the potential to improve their economies through regional coordination. This led us to reflect on how many opportunities the countries from the wider Atlantic missed out on by not considerin ...

The G20, since its emergence in 1999, has played a crucial role in maneuvering the economy, envisaging a new global financial architecture, and steering clear of the roadblocks hindering economic development. Also known as a ‘multilateral economic caucus’, the G20 has served as a platform for both developed and emerging economies to engage in constructive dialogue. Having as a theme Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or ‘One Earth— One Family—One Future’, India has assumed the leadership of the ...

Fritjof Knier is a 2022 alumnus of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about him here. Twice in the past decade the term “largest refugee movement since the Second World War” was coined in Germany and Europe. First in 2015 with many refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran arriving and seven years later in 2022 when the war against Ukraine led millions to flee towards the West. Now, Germany has grown to become the fourth largest refugee hosting nation, h ...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have reignited the debate on efficiency versus resilience in international trade and global value chains (GVCs). This policy brief[a] (i) explains the contrasting perspectives of the private sector (primarily seeking efficiency) and the public sector (aiming for resilience); (ii) demonstrates that GVCs are still flourishing, despite some mounting signals of a geo-fragmentation leading to greater reallocation of the GVCs; and (iii) provide ...

 This brief was originally published on gmfus.org as part of a partnership between the Policy Center for the New South and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.   Air and ocean temperatures are increasing at record levels despite international efforts to mitigate carbon emissions. The consequences of this failure go beyond its harmful effects on climate patterns to endangering global political, economic, and social stability. Human security is on the line and faces even ...

After decades of globalization and integration, the world seems to be fragmenting again, epitomized best, perhaps, by the return of geopolitical crisis, protectionism, unilateral sanctions, treaty withdrawals, and even military and economic coercion. Designed to foster cooperation among states, the multilateral system put in place after the Second World War grew quickly to encompass economic development, international security, global health, human rights, and environmental issues. ...

مرت تسعة وعشرون عاما منذ أن انطلقت رواندا في مسار تحقيق المصالحة الوطنية بعد أحداث الإبادة الجماعية التي ارتكبتها حكومة الهوتو الخاضعة لسيطرة المتطرفين، والتي استهدفت أقلية التوتسي خلال مئة يوم إلى حين دخول الجبهة الوطنية الرواندية البلاد. حيث اعتمدت على الآليات المحلية التي جمعت بين المقاربات الشمولية والمحلية القائمة على الثقافة، كما شملت استجابات قضائية وغير قضائية تفاعلية ووقائية، علاوة على إطلاق مجموعة من الإصلاحات الدستورية، المؤسساتية والقطاعية. غير أن هذا المسار، لم يخل من ...

This policy paper examines India’s growing engagement in North Africa, focusing on five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. Despite lacking a distinct regional policy for North Africa, India has amplified its bilateral engagement with these countries, underpinned by a steadfast commitment to the principle of South-South cooperation. Through its strategic moves in North Africa, India has established a powerful southern-west axis for its foreign policy that stretch ...

In an attempt to bring the World Cup back to Europe and Africa, Morocco has joined Spain and Portugal in a three-way bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. While there are still talks of Ukraine remaining in the bid, the three confirmed countries are hoping to score big with major economic, cultural, and political benefits. Although not as large as the Olympics in terms of logistics, the FIFA World Cup is one of the most prestigious and watched sporting events in the world. Early figu ...

The member countries of the International Monetary Fund decided in 2021 to create a new tranche of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for a sum equivalent to $650 billion. Under the Fund's usual rules, Africa as a whole would receive only a small share of this ($33 billion). Consequently, a number of advanced countries have offered to give Africa a share of their new SDR allocations, so that Africa will receive a total of $100 billion. This Policy Brief provides an update on this topic. ...

Les pays membres du FMI (Fonds monétaire international) ont décidé en 2021 de créer une nouvelle tranche de DTS pour une somme équivalente à 650 milliards de dollars. En appliquant les règles habituelles du Fonds, l’Afrique prise globalement n’en recevrait qu’une faible part (33 milliards). C’est pourquoi un certain nombre de pays avancés ont proposé de reverser à l’Afrique une part de leur nouvelle allocation de DTS, afin que le continent africain reçoive au total 100 mi ...

The North Sea has been an important energy hub for many European countries for centuries. It is home to many natural resources, from oil and natural gas, to wind and wave energy, making it a powerhouse of energy production. In recent decades, the North Sea has seen significant investment in energy infrastructure and innovation, allowing many of these resources to be harnessed and used to supply energy to much of Europe. Furthermore, the North Sea has become more important for Europe ...

This publication provides an insight into the lens through which countries of the Global South view the current period of successive crises, brought about by an ongoing global pandemic and a war in Europe. It highlights how the combined weight of history, culture, and geography has shaped the Global South’s interests and is influencing its foreign policy stance during one of the most dangerous periods of Great-Power competition in recent times—one that could see the fracturing of th ...

This ninth edition of “Atlantic Currents” appears in an international context marked predominantly by a ten month-war between Russia and Nato members that began February 2022. The war is affecting not only the European and American member States directly and actively involved in an unprecedented manner, but more importantly the countries of the global South that have suffered collateral damage. Indeed, the nations of the world were barely out of the most painful and costly phase o ...

One aim of COP27 was to persuade countries to make commitments to reduce emissions and earmark resources for technologies to be transferred from industrialized states to less developed states. Hovering over the COP27 was the reluctance of wealthy states to live up to their 2009 commitment to provide $100 billion to poor countries, financial assistance for adaptation (as opposed to just mitigation projects), and more compensation for what the Paris Agreement termed “loss and damage,” ...

Le présent travail s’intéresse à la question de l’accompagnement et la réintégration des travailleuses marocaines saisonnières en Espagne. Il met en avance l’existence de déficits à plusieurs niveaux. Des plus importants sont : une inclusion financière et un accompagnement en matière de renforcement de l’employabilité ; un accompagnement en matière d’alphabétisation financière ; un accompagnement en matière de création, et post-création, d'activités génératrices de revenus ; un acco ...

This chapter was originally published in the book "Africa–Europe Cooperation and Digital Transformation", co-edited by Chux Daniels, Benedikt Erfoth, and Chloe Teevan Since the mid-2010s, North African countries have been pursuing what some observers have called a “return to Africa” (Dworkin, 2020). Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have attempted to position themselves as major components of Europe- Mediterranean-Africa infrastructure and supply chains corridors (Tanchum, 2020). The thr ...

Les Dialogues stratégiques, une collaboration entre le HEC Center for Geopolitics et le Policy Center for the New South représentent une plateforme d'analyse et d'échange biannuelle réunissant des experts, des praticiens, des décideurs politiques ainsi que le monde universitaire et les médias au service d'une réflexion critique et approfondie sur les tendances politiques mondiales et les grandes questions d'importance commune pour l'Europe et l'Afrique. Cette publication est issue ...

A merchant ship passed Turkey’s Bosphorus  Strait on its way from Syria to Russia late last month, observed “Bloomberg”( August 9, 2022), transporting military equipment, including trucks, documented by satellite imagery. The “Sparta II”, a cargo ship leased by Oboronlogistika to the Russian military, was on its way from Tartus to the Black Sea harbor Novorosslysk. No tanks were sighted, or Russian fighter jets, just these trucks, but   the moderate value of the cargo, noted Bloom ...

Les responsables des États du Maghreb aimaient donner en exemple l’expérience de la Corée du Sud : ils semblaient signifier que grâce à ses périodes autoritaires elle a pu accéder au développement économique, voire à la puissance économique et, du coup, à la démocratie. La Corée du Sud a développé sa présence économique mais aussi politique et culturelle dans les pays de la région maghrébine à partir de plusieurs entrées : les relations avec l’ensemble de la re ...

Si l’Afrique est de nos jours convoitée par de nombreux acteurs (Turquie, Chine, Russie, etc..), le Japon y renforce et diversifie sa présence. Deuxième contributeur de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD), le pays du « soleil levant » s’implante en Afrique centrale, du Nord et de l’Est, avec un focus sur le domaine technique avec des objectifs très précis (nouvelles technologies, sécurité alimentaire, infrastructures). C’est cependant un partenaire qui privilégie la discrétio ...

Le rôle de la Cedeao (Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest) dans la gestion des conflits ayant eu lieu à la fin du 20ème siècle et au début du 21ème siècle revêt une importance capitale. Dès sa création, l’organisation régionale représentait le symbole de l’avancement démocratique dans ses pays membres mais elle doit aujourd’hui faire face à un recul en termes de gouvernance démocratique et d’influence. Elle s’est imposée comme étant la plus av ...

The timing was perfect for analyzing the “African Security in times of uncertainties”. The Rabat-based “Policy Center For The New South” programmed its  6th “African Peace d Security Annual Conference” (APSACO) on July 20/21 to focus on the historic challenge of our time-the world,  Africa in particular, struggling to find stability while war s waged in Central Europe, and 25 million tons of wheat and fertilizers needed to feed the starving population, millions on the African contin ...

Sleepless nights and the tireless search for compromise allowed WTO members to agree on concrete deliverables during the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference held last June. Those results reinforce Multilateralism. And this is a significant gain given the multiplicity of global crises that surround us. The Outcome include 6 Agreements, Declarations and Ministerial Decisions that respond to some of today's challenges, notably on Fisheries and Ocean Sustainability as well as responses to P ...

Foreign aid has a well-established and significant role in international relations. The role of foreign aid in the repertoire of international development programs is extensively documented, with its goal being the promotion of human and economic development. Foreign aid can be defined as “all forms of assistance that a country derives from other governments or multilateral agencies and financial institutions to fill noticeable gaps, especially in production, savings, and investment ...

Western states are increasingly sending asylum-seekers caught at their borders to states in the Global South, in violation of humanitarian principles about the right to asylum. Critics have also noted the racial dimensions of this policy, asking why Ukrainian refugees aren’t being sent to Rwanda for processing or resettlement? What has not received attention in this discussion is how, in response to internal and external pressures, African states are developing migration management ...

Les missions militaires de l’Union européenne (UE) en Afrique revêtent aujourd’hui, à l’heure de la réinvention du partenariat euro-africain, une importance considérable. Alors que Bruxelles entend plus que jamais s’imposer comme l’un des garants de la sécurité au niveau mondial, tout en se mesurant aux nouveaux rapports de force mondiaux, elle tient parallèlement à devenir un acteur incontournable en matière de paix, de surcroît motivé par la prolifération des risques ...

A principle seems to be establishing itself as a basic tenet of refugee and irregular-migration management policies in host countries in Europe and elsewhere: if you do not want refugees, pay to keep them in, or ‘outsource’ them to, poorer countries. But this raises some basic moral, political, and even financial questions. The approach was pioneered by Australia, which in 2012 began shipping migrants who arrived on its shores irregularly by boat to Papua New Guinea and Nauru in t ...

Three questions to Jamal Machrouh   This article was initially published on https://www.institutmontaigne.org/   Morocco was among the countries not taking part in the March 2 UN General Assembly vote following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This position raised questions in Europe as Morocco is Europe's largest partner in the Maghreb. Jamal Machrouh, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, sheds light on Morocco's perceived neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict in o ...