Material for Discussion at the Middle East Dialogue of the Valdai Discussion Club
Lotte Hotel Moscow, 8 bld.2, Novinskiy Blvd., Moscow
Programme
List of speakers
Material for Discussion at the Middle East Dialogue of the Valdai Discussion Club
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On February 27-28, the Valdai Discussion Club, in partnership with the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, will hold a conference, titled “The Middle East: When Will Tomorrow Come?” The conference will be held in the format of an expert dialogue attended by politicians, scholars and diplomats from over 25 countries that play an active role in the region.

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In 2017 changes in the world order reached a new stage. It turns out that the trends that have emerged in the Middle East in the form of acute civic confrontation and popular unrest are not entirely regional. The ongoing crisis of modern statehood and its associated confl icts are fueling terrorism and generating massive migration.

The latter is becoming a challenge to the political, economic and social systems and public values of host countries, including Western countries.

The resulting sense of helplessness and insecurity serves as a catalyst for the builtup discontent with the old elites in Europe and America. Many people consider them ineffi cient and divorced from reality. The newly emerging elites, who are claiming a place in the sun, are accused of populism, the inability to understand the entire complexity of today’s world politics and ignoring basic strategic considerations while betting on tactical gains.

A term was even coined in the United States: “forgotten Americans,” or people who are ignored by their own country, who have neither normal jobs nor decent means of livelihood. In Arab countries, the prime movers behind the “revolutions of dignity” were also unemployed people who had fallen by the wayside. There are no direct parallels here, but the sense of injustice became pervasive, and amid such a rising storm it does not make much difference precisely who will be found guilty (migrants, elites or bureaucracy).

The sense of resentment and insecurity makes Western societies again rely on nation states as key international actors, at the same time making higher demands of their authorities. In the Middle East, the same concerns force societies to look for support from various non-state actors, capable of compensating for the weakness of state institutions.