Security concerns arising from and existing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are of high importance to the EU and NATO as well as their member states. This Hybrid CoE Trend Report focuses on the implications of the dynamics of this region for Europe’s southern neighbourhood. It highlights four trends: eroding state authority, new dynamics of power competition, decreasing respect for legal agreements and norms, and narrowing space for a democratic model of governance. The general consequence is a regionwide political and strategic instability and unpredictability that enhances the effectiveness of hybrid threat activity in the region. Regional instability can also be used to achieve effects in other states and regions using hybrid threat means.

Hybrid CoE Trend Report 7: Trends in MENA: New dynamics of authority and power
Recent publications

Identity & cognitive vulnerabilities
Social identities and democratic vulnerabilities: Learning from examples of targeted disinformation

Maritime
Protecting maritime infrastructure from hybrid threats: legal options

Non-state actors
Countering state-sponsored proxies: Designing a robust policy

China