A New Westphalia in MENA after the Arab Revolutions

Violent struggles in the Middle East and North Africa have led many experts to compare this era to the Thirty Years’ War, a set of interlinked and extremely deadly and destructive conflicts in Europe (1618-48). Like that conflagration four centuries ago, they involve internal uprisings, civil conflicts, proxy wars, foreign intervention, geopolitical struggles, great-power competition, and the participation of many regional political players. At root, all these conflicts are fights for sovereignty, one of the most important pillars upon which the state is based, the violation of which often leads to the outbreak of war. For this reason, many assert that the time is right to try to solve contemporary problems by forging a new Westphalia treaty. This study analyzes the Thirty Years’ War and the groundbreaking treaty that emerged from it, then presents a strategy to preserve state sovereignty and seek peace in the region.