A Perspective on the Evolving Geopolitics in the Middle East (original) (raw)
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Islamic State and the Changes in the Geopolitical Structure of the Middle East
Regional Security is the main challenge for all states in the world. Contemporary tensions, in the Middle East, evoke terrorism organizations to spread their activities and act harsher than ever. Political destiny of the Middle East in the last two centuries has been ruled by outside powers. This tendency is continuing in the 21th century too, but nowadays some of the Middle East countries can play independent role in the regional politics, which characterizes and refines political as well as geopolitical structure of the region. This process is going fast and with a lot of crisis, civil wars, terrorist attacks, interstate wars and so on. The main focus of the paper is to shed the light on the ongoing process in the Middle East region and analyze how this process can have the influence over the geopolitical structure.
Third party interventions always prolong the interstate or civil wars with unending sufferings and devastations. The entire Middle East region is fraught with tensions, conflicts, civil wars and rivalries. From strategic interests to power grabbing, sectarian divisions, flaws in the civil and social structure of the state and society, ethnic insurrections, and many other shapes of instability syndromes can be diagnosed in this region. In the post-Arab Spring, 2011, the emerging new regional hierarchical order for power/dominance, in addition to the weakening/declining dominant US power in the region, changed the entire shape of already conflict-ridden region. New weak or collapsing states and bifurcation of the 'status quo' and 'counter-hegemonic' states along with their respective allies, made this region a prototype of instability in the regional security complex of the Middle East, as a direct result of these developments. The perpetuation of these abnormalities would not recede this instability conundrum from the region, provoking third party intervention, if not contained.
THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
International Journal of Political Science, Law and International Relations (IJPSLIR) ISSN (P): 2278–8832; ISSN (E):, 2019
The Middle East is one of the hottest regions in the world; The Middle East is characterized by the laxity and softness of its borders since there are no fixed physical boundaries. Moreover, the geographical location in which the Middle East is settled is unique that makes it a definition of political geography in the study of the relationship and impact of geographical location on political decision. The Middle East, according to the rules of the new regional order, is one of the most politically and militarily active areas, and it seems to remain so for the foreseeable future. Politically, while keeping the situation of military conflict influential, pressing and effective to influence any political road map, while the conflicts are everywhere in the region. The paper analyzes the multiple alliances and conflicts underlying the political and security challenges in the region and examines how these structures have provided opportunities for alternative authorities on the ground as well as internationally. KEYWORDS: Middle East, Political Conflict & Political Geography
Understanding the Middle-East in the Post-Arab Spring Phase: A Geopolitical Perspective
Certain world regions become a geopolitical unit due to their absolute and relative location, availability of strategic resources, closeness to trade routes, etc. The Middle-East is the best example, which has been an extremely important geopolitical unit since historical times. Since the silk route days, it has played a vital role of linking Asia with Europe and Africa. A glance at the world map would show the Middle-East as a territorial knot of the three continents. It is not just its absolute location that makes it a significant geopolitical unit but its location vis-à-vis its neighbouring political-economic environment. The Middle-Eastern countries either get influenced or influence developed countries of the European Union located to its northwest and developing countries located to its east and southwest. Further, availability of strategic resources like oil and petroleum and techno-economic capacity to exploit them allows these countries to manoeuvre the economic or political crisis. Most of the countries depend on the Middle-East for their energy demands and, therefore, oil prices make their national economics highly volatile. Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea route, is the major artery of the oil trade; adding into the geostrategic importance of the region. Consequently, control over oil reserves and Suez Canal is of prime geopolitical significance. How far the political regimes achieve success in exploiting the given geostrategic location to their advantages determine the geopolitical balance of the region. At this backdrop, the present paper attempts to understand the geopolitics in the Middle-East in the post-Arab Spring phase.
In the contemporary times, Middle East is engulfed in multiple crises ranging from contention amongst rival states to the terrorism. In addition to that, insurgencies, civil wars and proxies, a very active role of non-state actors as well as extra regional players have become a constant feature while defining Middle Eastern politics. This research study would analyze these conflicts from multiple perspectives that include economic, social and demographic structures that contributed in ignition of the crises in Middle East. Furthermore, the incongruence amongst various actors in Middle East severed and aggravated the crises that Middle East is facing in current era. This research study argues that a comprehensive and multilateral approach is required to resolve these issues, which are affecting Middle East.
Middle East and the International Strategic Shifts
Association of Academic Researchers and Faculties (AARF Publications), 2019
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The 2011 uprisings failed in spreading democracy. They did, nevertheless, reshape regional relations leaving three traditional powers of the area -Egypt, Syria, Iraq -as barely functional states. The Gulf countries -Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE -are leading a potential endless counter-revolution effort. The latter has ignited a toxic circuit of proxy wars that is re-orienting regional foreign policy with a compass driven by altered perceptions of threats and opportunities. The hope that, at the end of the Syrian War, major actors would have designed a regional order based on new power relations was premature. The new order, as Marc Lynch said, is fundamentally one of disorder 1 . States that avoided collapse are fragile, and the political and social problems that led to the Arab Uprisings are still there, beneath the shallow.
Middle East: A Regional Instability Prototype Provoking Third Party Interventions
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Third party interventions always prolong the interstate or civil wars with unending sufferings and devastations. The entire Middle East region is fraught with tensions, conflicts, civil wars and rivalries. From strategic interests to power grabbing, sectarian divisions, flaws in the civil and social structure of the state and society, ethnic insurrections, and many other shapes of instability syndromes can be diagnosed in this region. In the post-Arab Spring, 2011, the emerging new regional hierarchical order for power/dominance, in addition to the weakening/declining dominant US power in the region, changed the entire shape of already conflict-ridden region. New weak or collapsing states and bifurcation of the 'status quo' and 'counter-hegemonic' states along with their respective allies, made this region a prototype of instability in the regional security complex of the Middle East, as a direct result of these developments. The perpetuation of these abnormalities would not recede this instability conundrum from the region, provoking third party intervention, if not contained.
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