Practices of security in the post-Cold War era

This chapter explains the relationship between regions and security by looking at how post-Cold War security practices have been shaped by and, in turn, shaped contending security discourses and spatial representations. It highlights the diverging security practices of state versus non-state actors in the Arab world. The Euro-Mediterranean approach to regional security has ceased to be a feasible option. The launch of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership process and the two-track negotiations of the Madrid peace process marked attempts by the European Union and the United States (US) to use economic tools to increase economic regionalisation and maintain stability in the region. The first post-Cold War challenge to the US approach to securing the Middle East came in August 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The state and non-state actors who sought to secure the Muslim world have pursued conflicting agendas riddled with internal tensions.