High-Level Conference on “Collective Action and Diplomacy in the Middle East. Which Prospects for Security?”

On 23-24 June 2026, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Middle East Program) and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs co-organized their second Middle East conference in Berlin, Germany, titled “Collective Action and Diplomacy in the Middle East. Which Prospects for Security?” 

Collective action by states and actors in the region in matters of security and diplomacy has been episodic, fragile, and largely reactive for much of the modern Middle East’s history. Yet, over the past two years – most evidently under the pressure of the war in Gaza and its dire consequences – key actors in the Middle East have engaged in an unprecedented level of diplomatic coordination and strategic activism. Although this coordination has not produced dramatic breakthroughs, it still represents a significant departure from the past. 

The two-day conference invited distinguished experts, policy-makers and practitioners from the Middle East, Germany, Europe and the United States to share insights, engage in exchange and challenge assumptions over the role of collective action and diplomacy in the Middle East region, as well as the roles of Europe and America. 

After an opening keynote by H.E. Marwan Muasher, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the subsequent conference discussions shed light on the recent war with Iran and the geopolitical dynamics in the Gulf, US Middle East policy, the development in Syria, as well as the limits of collective action in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon. 

Among others, the conference discussions highlighted the need to re-center domestic politics in discussions on collective action in the region as well, in view of their close link to geopolitical dynamics, as well as national security and political interests by states and actors in the region. While promising attempts at regional diplomacy could be observed, further efforts are necessary, in which energy and trade interconnectivity can play a role, and inclusivity is key. Europe navigates a particularly delicate position over the need for a proactive foreign policy and a complex transatlantic relationship.