Regional-Based Conflict and Confidence-Building Strategies

This study considers the challenges of operating a regional association that includes combatants and adversaries as members by developing a confidence-building (CB) framework that defines conflict type (contemporary conflict, active intractable conflict and inactive intractable conflict), engagement-level (international, regional and bilateral) and CB strategies (security-military and social). The utility of this framework is examined by applying it to the Union for the Mediterranean – a 43-member association operating in a region where states are dependent on each other for their security. We demonstrate how confidence-building is utilized based on conflict type and engagement level, although the real significance of this framework is in identifying those conditions that effectively support CB strategies. Curiously, the intractable conflict literature rarely discusses confidence-building and the contemporary Euromed literature does not characterize EU behavior in a CB context. The study concludes by building a research agenda to further examine the utility of the proposed framework.