The MENA Region and the Climate Crises Challenges and Prospects


Edited Routledge Book. Editors: Irene Costantini, Federico Donelli


This volume offers a groundbreaking reading of the politics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through a perspective that radically incorporates climate crisis in the analysis. Theoretically, the volume addresses the interconnected nature of climate-related challenges and frames them as non-traditional security threats. Thematically, it investigates the extent to which and how climate crisis has multifaceted impacts on MENA across a number of aspects, ranging from geopolitical shifts and resource management to societal impacts like migration and gender issues. By way of example, the volume deals with security-related issues like water disputes (e.g. Turkey-Iraq, Egypt-Sudan); it explores the (mis)management causes and the socio-political effects of disasters (e.g. severe sandstorms and floods in Libya, Egypt, and the Gulf countries); and it goes as far as questioning the mutual influence between regional and international dimensions of energy policies (e.g., the “Visions” programs of the Gulf vis a vis the European Green Deal) and related migration issues. The volume offers a holistic examination of how climate crisis intertwines with everyday life and policy-making in the region, also affecting the way in which the region shapes its relationship with external actors like the US, EU, and China. On the whole, the book emphasizes the urgent need to incorporate the climate crises as a crucial perspective for understanding a variety of emerging processes in the region: from resource disparities and sociopolitical dynamics to digital security and energy transitions, with a view to highlighting how climate crisis affects foreign policy, decision-making processes, and regional stability. The contributing chapters call attention to the urgent need to prioritize climate crisis in governmental agendas and redefine the region’s approach to this global challenge, going beyond the state level and focusing on regional security complexes and dynamics. Aimed at an audience that spans academia and the policy-making world, the book employs a holistic approach, offering a varied and comprehensive view of the climate crisis. 


Tools
Translate to