Description
The Middle East and North Africa is often dubbed the least economically and politically integrated region in the world. This paper contributes to debates on regional cooperation in the Middle East by examining the integration efforts that accompanied the Madrid/Oslo peace process in the 1990s. At the critical juncture that followed the fall of the Soviet Union and the first Gulf War, aspirations for a peaceful Middle East often intertwined with a paradigm that cast boycotts and tariffs as relics of the past. Focusing especially on the multilateral working groups and the World Economic Forum-sponsored MENA Economic Summits, this paper sheds light on an often overlooked phase of the region’s history. Drawing on recently declassified archival material and elite interviews, it uncovers unsuccessful attempts at regional institution-building, as well as the often contested vision of “the new Middle East” that underpinned them. It further shows how these initiatives were perceived as integral to peace-making efforts in Israel-Palestine and beyond. Finally, it posits that some of the concepts and projects devised in the 1990s were later rediscovered and reclaimed by actors in the region and worldwide.