Regionalizing Security in the Middle East: Connecting the Regional and the Global

Abstract

This chapter considers the development of security regionalism and regionalization in the Middle East against the backdrop of global influences and trends. It demonstrates how regional security has, on the one hand, mapped onto global patterns and practices in respect of security governance: the influence of the League of Nations was visible in the charter of the League of Arab States (LAS), which in turn served to inform debates about the relationship between regional organizations and the United Nations (UN). The LAS represents a “historical twin” to the UN as a former secretary general recently stated (Moussa, 2012, p. 107). Moreover, current debates about regional security are closely informed by the wider multilateral framework as the question of (non)intervention around the Arab Spring uprisings showed. On the other hand, regionalism in the Middle East has also progressed along broadly similar lines to other regionalisms around the world, conforming in general terms to the pattern of two main “waves” of regional development, the first after World War II and the second after the Cold War (Mansfield and Milner, 1999). Yet, beyond this apparently conformist and positive view of the development of regional organization and its relationship with global security, there is an evident disjuncture between expectation and performance.