Beyond the Great Powers:

Considerable research has explored the growing influence of middle powers as they manage great power competition, but less attention has focused on the roles such actors are playing in the mediation space, taking advantage of their relationships with competing regional and global actors. Indeed, a more diverse and growing number of state mediators, many from the Middle East, are playing increasingly active roles that were once largely associated with established mediators like the United States, Switzerland, Norway, or Finland.

This workshop was part of a joint UCLA Burkle Center and Middle East Council project that aims to better understand this changing mediation landscape. What is motivating states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to play more active mediation roles, and what is the nature, scope, potential, and limits of such mediation efforts? How are global powers reacting, and how are their own mediation approaches evolving as a result? How do states and non-state actors who are the targets of mediation—the “mediated”—view alternative peace brokers?

The purpose of this workshop, hosted by the Gulf Research Center in Brussels, was to discuss draft papers analyzing pivotal country case studies that were commissioned for the project, allowing for an informal and open exchange of ideas to refine thinking on these questions. The interactive discussion also aimed to generate a better understanding of the geopolitics of contemporary mediation and the varying mediation practices and their effectiveness across the region and globally.