Confidence building measures in the Middle East1994

Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) were pioneered in Europe at the height of the Cold War. The immediate goal of such measures is to create enough trust between parties in international conflicts to avoid mutually unfavorable - sometimes dangerous - outcomes due to misunderstandings. The long-term goal of CBMs is to move the contending parties closer to a resolution of their more fundamental differences.

Such measures were successful in Europe, some say, because the situation was relatively stable and the parties were motivated to maintain peaceful relations. In this book, leading Middle East scholars and international security specialists assess whether confidence building measures can be applied in a region where the various factions have not yet decided that peaceful coexistence is a...