The Middle East Directions Programme is delighted to present its newly established Regional Security Initiative, which endeavors to rethink security system in the Persian Gulf region.

The Regional Security Initiative has the ambition to become a platform for research and a laboratory of ideas on fostering engagement between stakeholders and promoting gradual de-escalation and regional cooperation.

In the current environment, regional and global actors privilege risk-taking behavior that can be seen as potentially more rewarding. Previous approaches in addressing this pattern in the Persian Gulf sub-complex, including ambitious comprehensive approaches to rebuild regional security architecture, seem to have had limited success or have failed. Current dynamics make it very difficult for international actors to convene, incentivize, or forcefully push all the competing players to cooperate. 

New ideas are required to design tailor-made incremental steps to promote de-escalation and address the security dilemmas of all stakeholders. It requires lessons be learned from both failures and successes, including thorough comparative study of other regions.

The Regional Security Initiative publishes policy briefs, research papers, and ebooks and contributes to the MEDirections blog. It also organizes monthly roundtables and closed-door meetings.

The initiative is headed by Luigi Narbone and Abdolrasool Divsallar, with both having extensive experience in diplomacy and military-security dynamics of the region. Ahmed Hood is a Project Assistant.

To learn more:

Visit the Regional Security Initiative webpage

Watch the videos with Dr Divsallar and Prof Narbone presenting the Initiative