NATO and the Middle East

At NATO’s 2004 Istanbul Summit, Allied leaders agreed to enhance the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Alliance’s cooperative programme with the wider Mediterranean region, launch the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, a similar programme covering the broader Middle East, and assist Iraq with the training of its security forces. Taken together, these programmes herald a shift in NATO’s outlook towards the Middle East. This issue of NATO Review, which is entitled NATO and the Middle East, examines the Alliance’s involvement in this strategic region and the prospects for NATO to play a greater role. In the first of four articles devoted to the central theme, Carlo Masala of the NATO Defense College in Rome examines the evolution of NATO’s policy towards the Mediterranean and Middle East. Francis Ghilès of the European Institute of the Mediterranean in Barcelona examines relations between the Arab world and the West and considers how NATO might improve its image among Arabs. Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai presents his analysis of Arab attitudes to NATO and how the Alliance may seek to overcome stereotypes and prejudices. And Martin van Creveld of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, presents an Israeli’s view of Israeli-NATO relations and prospects for peace in the Middle East from a historical perspective.

In the debate, Jana Hybaskova, a Czech member of the European Parliament, and Toby Dodge of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, discuss whether external pressure helps or hinders democratisation in the Middle East. Elsewhere, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov analyses the evolution of NATO-Russia relations since the creation of the NATO-Russia Council. Julian Lindley-French of the Centre for Applied Policy of the University of Munich articulates seven strategic messages for the Euro-Atlantic community. And Michael Rühle of the Policy Planning and Speechwriting Section in NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division explains how and why NATO must become a more effective forum for political debate.