A profound transformation is occurring in the Middle East over the past few months. Since January of this year the region has seen the overthrow of two long standing regimes, that of Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hussein Mubarak in Egypt. Nearly every other country in the region has seen protests of varying severity and outright bloodshed in Libya. The upheaval appears to have been unforeseen by much of the international community. How America and its allies react to this situation may well determine the future of relations between the West and the Arab world. There is much speculation concerning what happens next for the region, it may still be too early to give a definitive answer though caution is clearly advised. Optimism would suggest …show more content…
While these events pre date the current revolutions occurring in the Middle East and Iraq is slightly different as the fall of the regime there was due to foreign intervention, they nonetheless highlight the violence typically associated with regime change. Another characteristic shared by most of the Middle Eastern countries is their strong emphasis on traditionalism and religion. Islam is certain to play a significant role in whatever comes next for these countries. This begs a commonly asked question; can Islam play a significant role in government without undermining the ideals of democracy? Historically, it's hard to find an example of a country that is both truly democratic and significantly influenced by Islam. This not to single out Islam, a country that is too influenced by any religion risks weakening the values of democracy. One country that has commonly been cited as a potential for emulation is Turkey. It is viewed has being secular but certain of its Muslim identity but with free elections. A lot steps will have to be taken for countries of the Arab world to reach the Turkish model if they indeed choose to follow that path. Turkey is member of many western organizations such as NATO and has been seeking membership in the EU. They have a better history of cooperation with the west than most Arab nations. Also, the country has a much higher standard of living and better economic condition
In the Middle East, each country has it’s own form of government. These forms of governments have been consistently changing throughout time. Throughout all the revolutions and overthrows, the national identity of the Middle East has slowly changed, some parts more than others. Over many years, overthrows in countries such as Egypt and Libya have led to a more democratic government. However, many other countries such as Iran and Iraq have remained more oppressive. The Middle East is still changing to this day. For example, Egypt recently overthrew their president Hosni Mubarak. There are also many protests currently going on in Libya.
With the current turmoil in the Middle East caused by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq), a lot of ground that the Middle Eastern government gained in democracy through US involvement and deployment is now being lost. There are mixed
Things move so far and so fast in the Middle East that some of the pieces here already seem like distant history just a year or two after happening and being written. If Iran, in 2013, ‘felt that the economic pressure and the credible threat of military intervention were to threaten its very survival, it might, just as Assad did with the chemical weapons, go as far as give up the entire nuclear program altogether.’ Before 2014 started was a relatively peaceful time. But of course, we know now that the West will never make such a threat, that the mullahs will have their way, and that the Americans are in retreat amidst the confused ruins of their policies as the Russians move in.
This paper will be using historical analysis to observe and analyze the changes of great power intervention in the Middle East politics over time. To understand how their involvement, seem to create more conflicts and wars in the region. It is important to look closely at the great power’s incentives to get involved. To elaborate more on the central argument, the paper will start with the heating up of 1956 war of attrition and ends with the explosion of the 1973 Yom Kippur–Ramadan war. As evidence to support my claims, I will provide the consequences of each of these wars due to great power intervention. Then, you should expect counter arguments followed by refutations. Lastly, I will conclude my paper with critical analysis.
In the post -World War II era, the competition of global supremacy between the superpowers of the time, United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the Cold War. Many countries in the world were pulled into this rivalry including many of the states of the Middle East. Allies against the Soviet Union received substantial quantities of United States aid and were encouraged to purchase weapons of Western means. Those who were in opposition to the United States’ power received economic and military assistance from the Soviet Union. The United States were inclined to view the rivalry between them and the Soviet Union as a vie for global supremacy. The challenge of attaining democracy in the Middle East has been insufficient leadership specifically in those who shared a common border and were in proximity to the Soviet Union. The United States, in their determination to impede the threat of expansion of the borders of the Soviet Union as well as contain the spread of communion, provided economic and military assistance to keep Iran, Iraq and Turkey politically stable. Although this was the goal of the United States, they actually impeded the democracy and political stability of these countries through its persistent influence in government affairs, determining its future’s livelihood.
The Arab spring has generated much controversy as a result of demonstrating that countries that were apparently peaceful were actually determined to remove their governments and install a new ideology that would be compassionate with regard to its people. Some nations actually went as far as to put oppressors down and to bring reform throughout their countries. However, it rapidly became clear that peace was far away when considering that new leaders were unable to satisfy people's needs and that the masses wanted to be provided with more power.
At the start of the 18th century, Middle Eastern countries witnessed their Eastern neighbors being overtaken by Western Europe and were faced with a choice: to pick apart or to be picked apart. It was from this dilemma that defensive developmentalism emerged in the Middle East. Empires such as the Ottomans, Persia, Tunisia, and Egypt began the process of centralizing their authority in order to assert effective control over their populations. The chief goal of defensive developmentalism for these empires was to assert their autonomy, whether that be autonomy from the Ottomans in the case of Egypt and Tunisia, or from outside imperialists in the Ottoman Empire and Persia. In order to accomplish these goals, defensive developmentalists undertook extensive reforms to establish their empires as relevant worldwide powers.
Some examples of prominent ex-Nazi members who escaped to the middle east are as follows. Franz Rademacher was a Nazi aide under Secretary of state Luther. Rademacher fled to Spain and then Damascus, Syria where he worked in foreign trade. Walter Rauff was responsible for the development of mobile gas vans. Fled to Damascus in 1947, and worked over 47 ex-Nazis to reorganize Syrian intelligence. A third example is Alois Brunner. Brunner was Eichmann’s right hand man and was responsible for the deportation and death of 100,000 European Jew’s. After being sentenced to death by a French tribunal, Brunner escaped to Egypt, and then on the advice of Al-Husaini went to Syria, where he worked for Syrian intelligence. Brunner lives to this day in Syria, under the protection of around the clock Syrian body guards.
Since colonization or even before, Western powers have been practicing policies that promote their economic interests and political expediency through which they have used any and all available tools to advance and maintain their supremacy. In the Middle East as in the rest of the world, we have witnessed Western powers trying to impose their civilization or way of life onto the people of the Middle East with complete disregard for their culture, tradition, and heritage, which for the most part, gives rise to nonstop conflicts. European powers and the United States, in keeping up with their philosophy, subdivided the Middle East into small factions (countries) that become the guardians of their economic interests. In doing so, Europeans powers
Imagine you are travelling through the Middle East in the 1930s. Which nations or states would you describe as “most likely to succeed” and which would you describe as least likely? Why?
In late 2010, a tidal wave of uprisings and protests in various parts of the Arab world emerged. It began with the Tunisian revolution when the martyr Mahmoud Bouazizi set fire to himself as a result of the deteriorating economic and social. This led to protests and demonstrations that ended with the fall of the ruling regime. In Tunisia which sparked the beginning of revolutions in many Arab countries, this is known as an Arab Spring. The question remains what are the real reasons that led to the Arab Spring and its effects? the causes of the Arabic spring May be varied, depending on the places, however the reasons can be a corruption in economic policies and demand social justice as the key motives and protests in the Arab world. This essay will discuss the most important reasons, and the effects of what is known as the Arab Spring.
Although the people’s voice is being heard and changes are being made, blood flows down the streets as people are being killed violently everyday. Many people believe it would have been more beneficial if the Middle East had completely avoid the Arab Spring or at least have gone a more passive road. Through the history of the region, leaders of Arab countries have anchored their position to later become rich and
were chosen by God to set up a state of Israel where they could not be
The Arab Spring has been a life changing phenomena, not only for the people who are attempting to overthrow their governments but for political scientists everywhere. The events originating in the North African country of Tunisia have led to the snowballing of several other Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim, nation states. The figurative breaking point might have finally been reached as the oppressed peoples of the Middle East have risen up to overthrow long-standing dictatorial governments in hopes of revolutionary change; change that is subject to the will of the people.
Over the last century, the Middle East has been the location of ethnic rivalry, political and economic instability, religious conflict, territorial dispute and war. Much of this tension in the Middle East comes from the various interpretations of Islam and how the religion should be applied to politics and society. Over the last ten years, the United States and their allies have pushed to promote democracy in the Middle East. However, they too have many obstacles they must overcome. They face problems such as the compatibility of Islamic law and democracy, the issue of women’s rights, and there is always the problem of how to go about implementing a democratic reform in these countries. Many initially would assume that it is only the