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The Middle East is the one of the world regions where wars and conflicts break out most frequently. International policies to prevent conflicts are needed most urgently in the Middle East. This project aims to study the potentiality of deploying preventive diplomacy in Middle East.

The concept of "Preventive Diplomacy" is not yet well known beyond academic circle of international relations, it is adverse to preventive war (preemptive attack), and primarily utilises diplomatic means to prevent conflicts, without exerting military strikes.

Measures for Preventive Diplomacy can include collaborative policies initiated by governments, multi-national organizations, and NGO's, such as the building of systems of observation, intelligence gathering, analysis. The development of early warning systems in regions where signs of conflict outbreak are reported, is another important measure. Also regarded as activities related to Preventive Diplomacy are, diplomatic negotiations to prevent conflicts and, in urgent situations, the preventive deployment of forces. One more sphere of preventive diplomacy is the international attempt to reform domestic regimes, to reduce the risk of conflict.

The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) is regarded as the most successful instance of Preventive Diplomacy thus far. Peace Building Activities in regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq are the focus of attention by the international society, however, the current emphasis is on post-conflict policies. In contrast to this, MEP, while also incorporating Peace Building Activities, regards conflict prevention as the more important issue.

During conflict, 75% of the causalties are said to be civilians. The prevention of a conflict would be more favourable to the people of the Middle East, than simply its management once broken out. The concept of "Preventive Diplomacy" has the potential to be an effective policy to realize "Human Security", which is the pillar of Japanese Foreign Policy

As is well known, a number of severe conflicts broke out in the Middle East after the end of 'Cold War', and the Palestine/ Israel conflict has remained unresolved for decades. However, this does not mean that the entire Middle East is under fire. Prospects for the future indicate that the prevention of conflict is of paramount importance worldwide, yet even more so in the Middle East today.

In the interest of their prosperity, the Japanese must maintain friendly relationships with Middle Eastern governments and the United States. Preventive Diplomacy may well be the policy that all parties can share with the governments and people of the Middle East.

MEP is intending to learn more on Preventive Diplomacy from the European case. It is also searching for an alternative form of cooperation with U.S., which will be a significant ally as before. MEP endeavours to collaborate with researchers from the Middle East, Asia and the West

Once more significant purpose of MEP is also to integrate International Relations (IR) with Middle Eastern studies. This is because the Middle East is a new field of study for many researchers of IR, and even among current researchers, Preventive Diplomacy is a new concept for the majority.

MEP challenges to advocate the concept of conflict prevention to Japan and the international society, and endeavours modify and adopt it to the case of the Middle East.