ORIENT I 2026 – Focus: The Mediterranean and the MENA Region

Dear ORIENT readers,

A new year begins and with it, we would like to shine a spotlight on the connector of the MENA region and Europe, the Mediterranean Sea. Both a bridge and a barrier between us, the Mediterranean has meant many things to many people on every corner of its shores. It both provides support and challenges to the countries that border it, playing a central part in the histories of millions of people. In Burak Şakir Şeker’s “The Mediterranean’s Shifting Tides: Maritime Security in the MENA-Europe Nexus” speaks to the complex, overlapping factors the Mediterranean’s evolution towards a more tense security space. Amel Boubekeur’s examines Euro-Mediterranean relations beyond the narrative of failed convergence, analysing administrative credibility, mobility governance, and energy cooperation as forms of stratified governance. Boubekeur argues that asymmetry has been stabilised  into hierarchy through routine governance mechanisms. Ingy Higazy takes a closer look at urban development and real estate in their article “‘The Real Mediterranean’ in the Middle East: Real Estate and Imaginaries of Urban Development,” focusing on the ongoing projects of GCC countries on Egypt’s north coast. Rida Lyammouri and Amine Ghoulidi key in on the effects of Morocco’s Atlantic Initiative on both the Sahel region in Africa and the Western Mediterranean, and how the two regions will only become further interlinked. Derek Lutterbeck dives into the evolution of immigration and migration via the Mediterranean into Europe over decades, and through a variety of routes. Patricia McCormick explores environmental and resources threats in their article “Climate Change and Water Scarcity Issues in MENA”, specifically the issues caused by water shortages and reduced rainfall. While the Mediterranean has served as a backdrop for strife and conflict in recent times, we must remember that it is ultimately what has bound together Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for millennia.

Dr. Andreas Reinicke
Director of the German Orient-Institute