Middle East and North Africa Program

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed travel and trade bans. They accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorist organizations, of keeping close ties with Iran, and of undermining regional stability. Since then, the relations between Qatar and the blockade states have deteriorated and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has increasingly weakened through fragmentation. Oman and Kuwait have failed to mediate the conflict; international actors such as the United States, France or Germany also faced the same fate.

From December 7–10 2017, the DGAP’s MENA Program hosts a workshop in Berlin, which focuses on the promotion of think tank work on migration and socio-economic challenges in Morocco. The workshop is the first of two workshops that give participants the opportunity to analyze and tackle complex issues related to socio-economic development and migration in Morocco through discussions with experts and the presentation of their own policy papers and policy recommendations. In addition, participants will receive training in policy paper writing.

The Moroccan king’s readiness to introduce reforms in response to the mass protests in 2011 has prevented the kind of radical change occurring in many other countries in the MENA region, and has maintained the country’s relative stability. However, Morocco’s social peace remains fragile. Social unrest has flared up recurrently, most prominently in the Rif region, as socio-economic grievances persist.

ROME MED: MEDITERRANEAN DIALOGUES is an annual high-level initiative organized by the Italian foreign ministry and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. The MENA Program of the German Council on Foreign Relations was on of the scientific partners to the conference.

The workshop in Tunis was the second in a workshop series devoted to the subjects of security sector reform, combatting radicalization and socio-economic development in Tunisia. It brought together mid-level experts who work in the field of policy analysis and advice in think tanks, academic research institutions, or comparable organizations, and who had previously attended a workshop in Berlin in July, to discuss with decision-makers the options for action in the field.

Despite the progress Tunisia has made in the past years, corruption and the high frequency of changes in government have hampered socio-economic development and political reform. These grievances have led to a growing disenfranchisement with the political process, particularly among the youth. Radical groups have been gaining a stronger foothold among politically and socioeconomically marginalized groups in Tunisia.