This project will explore the historic characteristics of successes and failures during international stabilization and conflict resolution in the Middle East, as a basis for evaluating various forms of military intervention – that could aid stabilization and facilitate conflict resolution – in the larger Middle East today.
The project aims to explore lessons of recent interventions as a foundation for alternative ways ahead. The relationship between political objectives, on the one hand, and military means and their deployment, on the other, is considered crucial for short- as well as long-term success or failure.
A deeper understanding of the characteristics of military successes and failures related to the larger political aims will help define what options are available in the larger Middle East today.
The context of international military intervention in the larger Middle East has profoundly changed since 2014 when Russia appeared to be unwilling to engage militarily, ISIL was an unknown phenomenon, Saudi Arabia and Iran were acting with restraint, and the flow of refugees was limited. These dynamics by themselves underline the value and relevance to explore and subsequently relate the characteristics of successes and failures to possible future options.
