Region and Region Building in the Middle East - Problems and Prospects

The paradox of the Middle East has been captured by its description as a region without regionalism (Aarts, 1999). Despite the intensification of regionalism acrossthe globe over the past two decades, the Middle East has been largely absent from that trend. From a comparative perspective, it has the lowest relative degree of regional integration in the contemporary world. (Kuhnhardt 2004:4) Apart from the ongoing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours, which makes any all-embracing regional project meaningless, the Arab countries have not created any long-term regional unity among themselves. The Arab League is one of the oldest regional organisations in the world, yet the Middle East has remained a region of conflict andinstability and it has failed to create viable regional structures.