Rapid regional changes bring to the attention of IR scholars the old debate about the low responsiveness of the Middle East to regionalism and regionalization in both the economic and political fields as well as the absence of a functional Middle East security complex. The overall polarization in regional politics, the rivalries amongst global actors and the continuous confrontation by proxy between Iran and Saudi Arabia open up new scenarios none of which bodes well for the future.

Speaker: Dr Matteo Legrenzi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice