Emerging Security Threats in the Middle East

Ashok Swain is a professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research and the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University, Sweden. Anders Jägerskog is counselor for Regional Water issues in the MENA region at the Embassy of Sweden in Amman, Jordan.

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Middle East and Its New Sources of InsecurityUnderstanding Security in the Middle EastStudy of Security in the Middle EastThe Middle East RegionInternational Actors and Regional Security in the Middle EastThe Rise and Fall of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the Rise of the ISISFuture Security Threats: Emerging ScenariosChapter 2: Achieving Food Security: A Critical ChallengeIncreasing Food demand in the RegionImport and Export of Water from the RegionLand Investments as a Strategy to Address Food SecurityClimate Change, Water Availability and Food ProductionConcluding ThoughtsChapter 3: Water Scarcity: Threat to Peace and StabilityWater Scarcity and Water Governance in the Middle EastSupply versus Demand Side SolutionsHigh Degree of Shared Water ResourcesNew Trends in the Region – The Use of Water as a WeaponConnecting to Security ArchitectureChapter 4. Energy Security and its Changing Dynamics in the Middle EastExporters of Crude Oil and Natural GasImporters of Crude Oil and Natural GasNew Challenges and New DiscoveriesMoving out of Oil and Gas TrapRelying on RenewablesEvaluating Region’s Energy Security ScenarioChapter 5: Managing Large Population MigrationImportance of Remittances and Challenges of Foreign WorkersThe Middle East: The Region of and for RefugeesMigrants in the Middle East: More as Peace Wreckers than Peace MakersChapter 6: Conclusion – In Search of Sustainable Regional SecurityFour Fault Lines in Regional Security StructureIdentifying Immediate Security RisksRegion to Regain the Initiative

This comprehensive analysis of the issues that destabilize the national and international politics of the Middle East. It is based on long and skilled observation of the problems of accessing secure water, energy and food supplies in the region. The authors bring the analysis right up to date by discussing the violent first and second decades of the twenty-first century. By deploying comprehensive securitization frame they effectively assist the reader to understand the variable intensity of regional conflict. They also link these dynamics with what has become known as the water, energy and food nexus.