Recent discovery of hydrocarbon has exacerbated existing geopolitical tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod, PRIO Cyprus Centre Researcher Zenonas Tziarras gives an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean, laying out its key players and its recent history, and sheds light on why hydrocarbons are consequential for a region that includes several Middle Eastern countries.
As refugees and other migrants arrived in increased numbers to Europe during the summer of 2015, many citizens across Europe mobilized to provide basic assistance in different ways along the route: from food, shelter, clothes, to access to wifi and charging stations for mobile phones. Alongside the massive political and media attention to the migrants arriving, was also this phenomenon: the widespread mobilization of volunteers, many whom had never or rarely been involved in volunteer initiatives earlier. As the number of people wanting to help grew rapidly, the initiatives needed to organize and create structures to coordinate the volunteers. How did this transition from spontaneous volunteer initiatives, at a moment with high media and political attention, materialize into formalized structures, responding to needs and contexts that also changed over time?
In a recent article entitled "Energy and Sovereignty in the new Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean" published in the Oxford Energy Forum, PRIO Cyprus Centre researcher Zenonas Tziarras asks how much of the recent crises can really be attributed to hydrocarbons, given other underlying issues and a history of regional tensions. He argues that hydrocarbons can only have a positive impact on eastern Mediterranean dynamics if the regional states (first) manage to resolve their fundamental and sometime decades-old differences.
PRIO's security and humanitarianism research milieus join forces to explore one of today's most relevant issues.
Full article here
During the International Seminar-Book Presentation: The Future of Natural Gas: Market and Geopolitics, organised by The International Affairs Institute (IAI) and the OCP Policy Center, Rabat 27.05.16
Read more about the cultural background for the riots in Greece in this op ed in the International Herald Tribune.
Stathis N. Kalyvas is an associate of the Centre for the Study of Civil War at PRIO.
Popular Article in To Vima
PRIO Cyprus Centre Policy Brief
Monograph
Journal Article in Oxford Energy Forum
Report - External Series
Edited Volume
Popular Article in Foreign Policy
PRIO Report
Journal Article in International Migration
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
Re-imagining the Eastern Mediterranean Series: PCC Report
Popular Article in EPIKAIRA
PRIO Cyprus Centre Policy Brief
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
PRIO Cyprus Centre Report
Report - Other
Journal Article in Turkish Policy Quarterly
Monograph