Publication

This paper discusses the tensions and conflict in the Middle East and argues for the creation of a negotiation process to ease these. More specifically, the authors 1) discuss the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen and the regional refugee crises; 2) highlight how tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have particularly contributed to conflict in the Middle East; 3) examine the prospects for an improvement in Saudi-Iranian relations, including how global oil consumption and the rise of the Islamic State could enable the two parties to start negotiations with each other; and 4) looks at what Iran and Saudi Arabia, and others in the region, can learn from the Conference for Security and Cooperation - which was used to manage the relationship between the Soviet Union and the West during the Cold War - and who could moderate such a process.