Minilateralism And The Realignment Of Power: I2U2, The Negev Forum, And The Making Of A Post- Ideological Middle East
Rhea Chaudhary, BITS Law School, Mumbai
ABSTRACT
Minilateral groups such as the I2U2 and the Negev Forum reflect a decisive restructuring of power, agency and institutional design in the contemporary Middle East. The emergence of these platforms reflects both the erosion of post-war Arab multilateralism and a regional shift towards functional, interest-based cooperation driven by economic diversification, technological interdependence and fractured threat perceptions. This paper seeks to examine whether the groups reproduce a recalibrated form of U.S. embedded hegemony. Through doctrinal, strategic and comparative analysis of regional alignments, this study navigates how institutional fragility, United States retrenchment, intra-GCC divisions and the normalization trend following the Abraham Accords have catalysed the need for narrow, agile coalitions that bypass traditional consensus-based bodies. This paper demonstrates that while minilaterals enable rapid coordination and reflect region specific adaptations they continue to remain structured around asymmetrical power relations particularly with regards to the United States regulatory, financial and technological dominance in I2U2 and its agenda setting power in the Negev Forum. Simultaneously competing axes like Iran, Turkey, Qatar, China and Saudi’s hedging practices constrain any singular U.S. led regional order. This analysis showcases that these minilaterals both respond to and deepen regional fragmentation by privileging state- centric pragmatism, normalization without any political resolution especially with regards to the Palestinian issue and multi alignment over ideological unity. This paper concludes that while the I2U2 and the Negev Forum embody innovative frameworks of cooperation grounded in infrastructure, supply chains and strategic connectivity, their long-term stability continues to depend on U.S. engagement and evolving multipolar environment. Instead of marking an absolute break from hegemony they reveal a hybrid order where post- ideological pragmatism coexists within American structural power.
