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Geoffrey Phillip Levin: To foster both regional stability and a positive working relationship with the young generation that initiated the Arab Spring, NATO should establish a program that trains young Arabs who desire to work in the security and public sectors. Such a program could set the groundwork for greater cooperation.
No one deserves more credit for the Arab Spring than the youth of the region. Young Arabs - mostly under the age of thirty - bravely stood up to men who had ruled since before they were born, risking their lives to demand freedom. The older generation reacted with surprise, pride, and a bit of envy, as they themselves had never challenged the system in such a way. Understanding this aspect of the Arab Spring is vital for ...More
Editorial Team: In the second theme week from our current policy workshop, we focus on NATO’s partnerships in North Africa and the Middle East. How can NATO best interact with the new governments forming in the wake of the Arab Spring and what should its role be in furthering security in the region? Read our young writers’ top ideas!
Our mission here at atlantic-community.org is to end the exclusivity of foreign policy discourse and give a voice to a new generation of thinkers as well as to strengthen the transatlantic partnership. Therefore, we are proud to feature our top five articles from the second category of the "Your Ideas, Your NATO" policy workshop competition, with ideas for how NATO can support the long term transition process in Arab Spring ...More
Arik Segal: The Arab Spring has introduced a new actor to Middle Eastern foreign policies: the people. NATO should recognize this change and design a new public diplomacy approach that will aim to understand the new liberated nations and increase engagement with them.
The uprisings of the Arab Spring have changed the realities for millions of peoples who used to live under authoritarian regimes. Adjusting to new rules and policies has also influenced the way countries interact with the new evolving governments. Up until the national struggles began, NATO and other states relayed on partnerships that were based on shared interests with leaders who for the most part did not ...More
Yasmin Jeanice Mattox: NATO should encourage new intercultural youth dialogues that focus on intercultural understanding and encourage transnational unity. By increasing intercultural appreciation, these dialogues could minimize and even disincentivize future military and diplomatic issues.
NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue has a serious cultural diplomacy problem in the Arab Middle East. By overemphasizing the importance of state actors it has failed to engage the Arab Spring's most important non-state actor: the youth. It has yet to send diplomats proficient in cultural and religious diplomacy, regional and national histories, sociology and psychology, to ask the youth questions like, "What do ...More
Emine Deniz: Turkey is the key component for sustainable relationships between NATO and the Middle East and North Africa. As a NATO member, Turkey represents a military and economic bridge between the West and MENA. NATO must utilize Turkey’s connections to improve the Alliance’s relations with the region.
Fire, one of the most useful and powerful inventions of human kind, was the only tool available to food vendor Sidi Bouzid. By setting himself on fire, Bouzid ignited the fire for prosperity, security and most importantly democracy in the Greater Middle East area. As Secretary General Rasmussen stated, it is the international community’s responsibility to ensure that the Arab Spring, so beautiful and inspiring, does not turn into ...More
Gökhan Tekir: The transition period to democracy for Arab countries that experienced revolutions may beget more turmoil and civil wars. The involvement of NATO highlights the fact that Turkey has a role to help these countries set the course for stable democracies and solid economies.
The fall of authoritarian regimes, once considered everlasting, in the Middle East and North Africa is giving a chance to people in the region to decide their own fates. However, transition to democracy in countries, which experienced revolution, is not without pain. The main issues are economic development levels, the role of the military of these countries, and the integration of different opposition groups to the political life after the ...More
Giulia Clericetti: NATO has a chance of enhancing its cooperation in MENA, but it has to confine it to the military/strategic field, without any democratic rhetoric, and change its air of superiority to a cooperation on an equal footing that minds about the difference of cultural languages.
NATO has always had an image problem. It has been seen as the arm of Western and in particular US imperialism. NATO's support for the Arab Spring, and a different posture toward the West by the new generations who led to the revolution could give NATO a new, more positive image. NATO has to capitalize on this in order to improve cooperation that can be useful to both parties.Learning the Differences to Find ...More
Karsten M. Jung: Sixty years after its foundation, the aspirations of the Arab Spring show that NATO’s values are as relevant as they have ever been. Events in the Middle East also indicate, however, that the Alliance’s role in their pursuit has to change from merely defending to actively promoting these values.
Despite all the debate about NATO's relevance and continued viability, the foundation of the Alliance in its values of "democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law" remains fundamentally sound. In fact, as the uprising of Middle Eastern peoples in pursuit of these values demonstrates, they are no less relevant today than they were at the time of NATO’s formation more than 60 years ago. But while the relevance of the ...More
Elizabeth Mallia: The Mediterranean Dialogue’s aspect of soft power is one of the greatest strength’s of NATO initiative. NATO should use this soft power in tandem with social media to promote NATO’s values and agenda in the region.
NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue aims to contribute to regional security and stability, achieve better mutual understanding, and dispel misconceptions. In 2011, unprecedented changes occurred in the Middle East with people demanding better living conditions, the protection of human rights, and more accountable and democratic governments. The Arab public awakening has demonstrated that the political landscape in the Mediterranean and ...More
Robert James Hurd: As developing nations seek to improve their status at home and abroad, the focus must be on improve the Rule of Law, NATO ought to use its members’ expertise and experience to support efforts in developing nations to establish a Rule of Law in order to support long-term partnerships and stability.
As populations across the globe rebel against corrupt, authoritarian leaders, they are calling for the establishment of governments that are free and responsive. During these transitions, fledgling democracies, developing nations and even established governments must look critically at their futures; without leadership and guidance, this period of transition is apt to lead to conflict and instability. Though the autonomy of these ...More
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