Regional Security Dialogue in the Middle East: Changes, Challenges and Opportunities (UCLA Center for Middle East Development CMED) series

"At this time of considerable political turmoil in the Middle East, with little progress observable in the Arab-Israeli peace process and Iran's continuing pursuit of a nuclear program, there is a pressing need to explore alternative frameworks for regional security. The book discusses the Helsinki Process as one potentially relevant historical model to learn from. The Helsinki Process began in a divided Europe in the early 1970s and, over 40 years, achieved major successes in promoting cooperation between the Warsaw Pact and NATO member states on social, human rights, security, and political issues. In this volume, established Middle East experts, former diplomats, and emerging scholars assess the regional realities from a broad range of perspectives and, with the current momentum for reform across the Middle East, chart a path towards a comprehensive mechanism that could promote long-term regional security. Providing a gamut of views on regional threat perception and suggesting ways forward for regional peace, this book is essential reading for students and scholars with an interest in Politics, the Middle East and Conflict Studies"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of contributors 8 List of abbreviations 16 Foreword 17 Introduction 20 Part I The Helsinki Process 36 1 Cautious optimism: The Helsinki Process as a model for negotiations in the Middle East 38 2 A zone in the Middle East: Confidence-building measures and the European experience 57 Part II Perspectives from the region and outside 70 3 The Helsinki Process and the Middle East: The viability of cooperative security frameworks for a region in flux 72 4 The Helsinki Process and its relevance in a changing Middle East: An Israeli perspective 110 5 Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone in the Middle East: A political view from Riyadh 122 6 Domestic politics in Iran and a future regional process 130 7 Lessons learned: The Turkish role in arms control and regional security talks in the Middle East 148 Part III The Middle East today: Changes, challenges, and opportunities 166 8 The Helsinki Process in the Middle East: Promoting security, development, democracy, and peace 168 9 The future of arms control in the Middle East 189 10 The Middle East and the Helsinki Process: Unfulfilled aspiration ... so far 203 11 Civil society dialogues and Middle East regional security: The Asia-Pacific model 217 Part IV Possible futures 232 12 A Helsinki Process for the Middle East? New discourse, new opportunities 234 Conclusion: Charting a course inspired by the Helsinki experience 252 Index 263