Reconciling different visions: the Middle East in the XXI century

Lying at the intersection of Asia, Africa and Europe, the wider Middle East represents one of the most important crossroads of the international system. Its crucial socio-political, religious and economic role has always made it the pivot of geopolitical phenomena exerting their influence well over its disputed boundaries.

At the dawn of the XXI century, these features are more actual than ever. Political instability, sectarian violence, forced migration, weak-failed states and terrorism virtually hijacked the attention of the media overlooking socio-cultural and geo-economic potential of the region.

Today, it is crucial to overcome this approach to understand the implications of long-term processes that are making once again the Middle East system pivotal. In particular, this is even more important for the European Union, since it is still searching for a holistic conciliation between two contrasting visions: an area enmeshed in violence and instability to be cordoned-off or a southern flank whose growth can only positively affect the whole European system. Reconciling these two contrasting visions becomes crucial to understand the entangled history and fate of an enlarged Mediterranean basin destined to be once again at the hearts of tomorrow world politics.