ABSTRACT
This study is the outcome of a two-year project, sponsored by the Mediterranean
Program of the European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre for
Advanced Studies, which aimed to bring a new perspective to the study both of
Middle Eastern-European relations and of Foreign Policy Analysis of
developing states – hoping to contribute, in order words, both to the discipline
of International Relations and to Middle East Area Studies. The ‘Middle East’ is
used here as encompassing the Arab world plus Iran, Turkey and Israel
(although Israeli policy itself is not part of our enquiry, as it is not a developing
state, features quite different dynamics, and has, in any case, received
considerably more attention already). An alternative label spells out the
inclusion of the Maghreb by specifying the region of interest as ‘The Middle
East and North Africa’, or ‘MENA’ region – the latter acronym having become
familiar in a number of policy fora and initiatives.
