The Mechanisms of Memory: Investigating the role of historical memory in international cooperation over energy resources.

Recent natural gas discoveries in the east Mediterranean were initially seen as a promising moment for increased cooperation in the region. Faced with the prospect of significant material gain, regional actors framed the discoveries as the beginning of a renewed era of interstate cooperation, helping overcome a history characterised by conflict and violence. Unfortunately, this expectation never materialized. Ongoing political disputes such as the Cyprus Problem and Israel-Palestine conflict, in addition to souring relations between several regional actors, has stunted cooperation regarding gas reserves. My proposed research project aims to explain these patterns of cooperation over natural gas in the east Mediterranean by exploring the role of historical memory in constructing/driving state preferences toward cooperation. The east Mediterranean is a region with a significant history of religious, ethnic and identity-based rivalry and conflict, with the continued importance of these disputes in guiding regional relations is not reflected in the literature, which primarily focuses on material incentives. To explore how the politics of natural gas cooperation is fuelled by assumed gas potential, historical grievances, and the politics of memory, I will research patterns of enmity and amity in interstate relations during the formation of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMFG), the regions first international institution. I intend on analysing state discourse from 2009, when the first major gas discovery in the region was found, to 2019, when the EMFG was established. This approach will be supplemented by elite interviews. I will focus on Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt and Lebanon as the main actors involved in regional gas cooperation, building upon my current research which focuses on Turkish and Cypriot relations. I am ultimately interested in explaining why, when and how historical memory disputes come to impact cooperation with regard to natural gas reserves, focusing specifically on discourse related to the Cyprus problem and Arab-Israeli conflict. This research is relevant for three reasons. First, it furthers our understanding of how memory politics impact state behaviour. Second, it challenges mainstream literature on resource-based conflict that views relations between states as primarily determined by material incentive. Third, it helps us understand the geopolitics of gas cooperation in a region that is becoming increasingly important in Europe's drive to diversify gas supply. These implications are both theoretical and empirical, emphasising the need to better understand the causal impact of non-material values in a region where cooperation holds increasing importance given broader geopolitical trends.