Valdai Club

What does the Middle East mean? Does it exist as an entity at all? Ghassan Salame, Professor of International Relations Emeritus, Sciences Po, Paris, considers definitions of the Middle East from secular and religious points of view, names factors, which keep the region unified. He explains why the idea of political panarabism has not succeeded. Problems of the region can never be solved, unless the human cost of different approaches will be taken into consideration.