Dynamics of Cooperation in Turbulent Regional Subsystems: The Case of the Eastern Mediterranean

Regional orders demand a new approach to cooperation and alliance-building in an era of pervasive interconnectedness and interdependence. The importance of partnerships and networks in turbulent regional (sub)systems must be based on conceptual frameworks that expand the geopolitical palette of “smart power” (as a combination of hard and soft power) to include “spatial transformations.” This could encourage the de-complexification of the connections and interactions of multi-agent stakeholders so that they can form elaborate multilevel networks of cooperation with transformative powers that advance regional integration and the peaceful resolution of disputes to manage transnational issues, such as migration flows, climate change, environmental degradation, transnational criminal networks, cross-boundary conflicts, global financial crises, and other. This panel uses the Eastern Mediterranean as an empirical canvas to explore themes in the theory and practice of cooperation, innovation, and network building. The participants focus on the role of nationalism, multilateralism, technology, innovation, green recovery, sustainable development, conflict, peacebuilding through epistemic communities, institutional building, democratic innovations, regionalism, globalisation, and global governance, but also on methodological innovations in IR theory and small state literature to analyse patterns of cooperation and network capacity in the construction of spatial transformations. These transformations encourage adaptation mechanisms and sustainable governance models of micro-macro entanglements. The panel researches the parameters that could sustain new models of regionalism, which could foster order out of turbulence in areas with pervasive conflict dynamics, such as the Eastern Mediterranean.