Tafahum

This project has started in September 2018 and is set up as a 3-year initiative that seeks to develop a roadmap for regional security in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula – a region that includes the GCC states, Iran, Iraq and Yemen. The project aims at generating an overall “understanding” (or tafahum) among regional stakeholders on a joined process towards regional security in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. In the course of this project, workshops and other dialogue fora, resulting in publications, will pave the way to constructing ideational pillars for an overall agreement of how to define a regional security architecture. Tafahum is implemented in cooperation with the Gulf Research Center Foundation and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Duration: September 2018 – September 2021

Team: Adnan Tabatabai (contact person), Tobias Zumbrägel, Jan Hanrath,
Thomas Pietzsch, Sina Winkel

Partner: Gulf Research Center Foundation

Donor: German Federal Foreign Office (Deutsches Auswärtiges Amt)

Get more information on this project through our One-pager

Publications:

The ‘Climate-Energy-Health Nexus’

The ‘Climate-Energy-Health Nexus’

An Entry-Point for Environmental Cooperation in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula

by Sina Winkel and Sebastian Sons

Based on insights obtained through the Tafahum wa Tabadul project, the authors discuss how recent geopolitical dynamics in West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula may pave the way towards cross-border environmental engagement on an inclusive political, academic, societal and entrepreneurial level. The ‘climate-energy-health nexus’ is introduced as a potential thematic entry-point for cooperation, as it addresses manifold shared interests and challenges in the region. Winkel and Sons warn, however, that challenges such as the lack of coordination, data gaps and political mistrust remain and will take time to overcome. In order to be able to do so, this Brief presents a number of recommendations to regional and international stakeholders.

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Tafahum – An Ideational Fundament for West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula

Tafahum – An Ideational Fundament for West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula

by Christian Koch and Adnan Tabatabai

This CARPO Brief discusses the need to construct ideational pillars for a tafahum, or common understanding, of how to define a process towards regional integration and a shared security architecture for West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula (WAAP). This is an evolutionary process, which begins with the essential building blocks of overcoming the existing lack of trust and addressing not only the current political and ideological conflicts defining the region from different angles, but also the conceptual frameworks behind them. The Tafahum project provides such building blocks, including the pursuit of issue-oriented cooperation between regional actors on a variety of subjects, promoted through the support of external parties.

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