Radicalisation in the Mediterranean Region: Old and New Drivers

Abstract:

This report summarises the proceedings of an international conference held in Ankara on 14 December 2015 jointly organised by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and the Centre for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) in the framework of the New-Med Research Network. Invited participants, drawn from a mix of academics, researchers and policy-makers, convened in Turkey to discuss the pressing challenges of instability and radicalism in the Mediterranean region, examine its contemporary and historical drivers and debate means to curtail the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters travelling to join extremist groups in Syria, Iraq and other locations in the Middle East and North Africa.

The conference marked the seventh meeting of the New-Med Research Network, an ongoing “Track II” initiative that aims to create a network of analysts, practitioners and research centres to foster dialogue and an exchange of ideas on contemporary security issues in the Mediterranean, thereby also supporting the objectives of the OSCE-Mediterranean Partnership. The Network is developed by IAI in collaboration with the OSCE Secretariat, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Compagnia San Paolo of Turin and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF).