Laura El-Katiri, Energy Expert, on Energy in the Mena Region

The BDA Currents: Where Diplomacy Meets Business, is the Brussels Diplomatic Academy’s annual report covering the wider geopolitical and other factors influencing and affecting the world of diplomacy, international relations and global business. The journal focuses on issues of topical interest around the centers of global power, influence and importance, including the continents of Europe and Africa, the Middle East, China, India & Asia, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independe ...

Les ressources hydriques constituent un facteur stratégique qui engage la sécurité humaine des États. Cette situation est plus problématique pour les régions qui connaissent un stress hydrique. Aussi, les prévisions mondiales d’ici 2050 sonnent l’alarme des dangers de la raréfaction de l’eau dans toutes les régions du globe, même pour celles qui connaissent aujourd’hui une sorte d’abondance hydrique. Il est question, ici, d’aborder la problématique de l’eau et de son partage dans u ...

The Arab Spring led to the collapse of dictatorships that ruled the region for decades, creating a void that triggered increased rivalry between three axes seeking to expand influence and control in the region. Using the theoretical framework of ‘offensive realism’ developed by Mearsheimer, this paper analyzes the build-up and circumstances surrounding the intensification of the rivalry between Qatar/Turkey, Saudi Arabia/the UAE and Iran and how this rivalry has become a major drive ...

The Middle East is currently witnessing a proliferation of nuclear programs that is the harbinger of headaches. A nuclear domino effect has occurred, and its implications are unpredictable but dangerous. Regional disarmament and non-proliferation initiatives are not in the cards and are becoming outdated concepts, especially since most Middle Eastern powers are systematically constructing nuclear facilities that could be used for military purposes. With shifting power dynamics shack ...

The 2011 announcement of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s construction came at a critical time, as Egypt was in the midst of a revolution and relations between Egypt and Ethiopia were already tense. Despite initial Egyptian threats of undertaking military action, Ethiopia pursued the construction of what has been presented as an essential part of its national and, to some extent, regional development. Tensions between the Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia have been extremely high for t ...

Il y a, d’abord, les premières images. Celles d’une gigantesque déflagration. Même les dizaines de déflagrations, dont nous parviennent régulièrement les clichés ou les films, et qui ont embrasé, ces dernières années, le Moyen-Orient, ne nous ont pas habitués à des images de cette violence. Puis, dans tous les esprits, en écho, viennent les théories sur l’origine de l’incident. Nous sommes au Liban. Les hypothèses d’attentat, de nouveau règlement de comptes sanglant entre puissance ...

Ce Papier a pour objet de considérer le blocage que connait le processus de résolution des conflits, en prenant la Syrie comme cas d’étude. Il s’agira de mettre l’accent sur les changements instaurés par le nouvel ordre global dans les zones de conflit, avant d’approfondir la réflexion sur les retombées et les limites sur le plan pratique. Pour se faire, l’analyse se focalisera sur l’étude de la transformation des conflits et des nouveaux défis et dysfonctionnements initiés par le n ...

Middle Eastern geopolitics is currently undergoing structural changes: the regional order is in transition in the aftermath of the Arab Spring that undermined authoritarian governance, and triggered the competition for power against a backdrop of American withdrawal. This new race for regional domination challenges the traditional hierarchy of powers that is mainly based on military capacity and the interplay of foreign alliances. The economy, which had previously guaranteed the pol ...