Security issues in the Middle East: the present challenges and threats

2021 ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Wissal Werfelli
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
International System ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
International Environment

The article analyzes the issue of the Middle East security. The Arab countries are facing a lot of regional threats and a fundamental shift in the regional security system, which has become one of the basic variables for the Middle East through the transition to a new form of regional and international interactions. The existence of mutual influences between the nature of the international system and the regional order of the Middle East and the Gulf region is already considered as an incubator for all intractable conflicts and crises.  We cannot study the concept of regional security in separate from the global effects and repercussions. After the end of the Cold War and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the structural transformations and global changes led to the emergence of profound changes in the international system, which resulted in the restructuring of the general features of the international environment.  The international transformation is marked by the fact that the new world order increased the chances of emergence of new international powers in both Europe and Asia, whether countries or major economic or political blocs trying to establish a multi-polar international order, which prompted the United States to pursue a policy of cooperation with competing powers.  And in light of this international environment, it was natural for the regions of strategic importance, particularly the Middle East, to be affected because they were linked to relations of mutual influence with the international system, as international balances affect regional balances.

scholarly journals Features of US Geostrategy in the Third World (50’s – First Half of the 60’s of the XX Сentury)

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Dmytro Lakishyk
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Third World ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Area ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
Major Powers

The main tendency of the postwar world order was the absence of direct military conflicts between major powers and the division of the world into two military-political blocs.These entities brought together countries that differed in ideology and socio-economic structure. In the context of this conflicting confrontation, third world countries have become the arena of mediated rivalry. The confrontation took place in order to increase the area of influence in developing countries by engaging them in some form of socio-economic and political system. The most striking similarity can be seen in the development of the divided nations of Korea, China, Vietnam, in the Indo-Pakistan conflict. In the event of such contradictions, it is possible not to claim the conflict between superpowers and third world countries, but about the involvement or intervention of major powers in internal or interstate conflicts. During the second half of the 1940s – early 1960s, the main task of US administrations was to create a «power ring» around the Soviet control area, to maintain its functioning and further strengthening it. Initially, its line ran in Europe, then in East Asia, and later expanded to the Middle East, with adequate security in the form of US military bases and military-political blocs. By pursuing a policy of containment and extending its line throughout the periphery of Eurasia, the United States was increasingly confronted with the effects of the collapse of the colonial empires and forced, in one form or another, to fill the vacuum of emerging power. At the same time, geopolitical considerations played a major role in this process. The first attempt at an integrated response to the needs of underdeveloped countries was President G. Truman’s Point Four programm, which provided them with technical assistance. In the 1950s, US geostrategic priorities changed: Europe retained its importance, but more attention was paid to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. During this period, the strengthening of US positions in the Gulf region – the most important strategic point in terms of both oil resources and geographical location – began.

Finding Faith in Foreign Policy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregorio Bettiza
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
International System ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sacred Landscapes ◽  
Muslim Politics ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, religion has been systematically brought to the fore of American foreign policy. US foreign policymakers have been increasingly tasked with promoting religious freedom globally, delivering humanitarian and development aid abroad through faith-based channels, pacifying Muslim politics and reforming Islamic theologies in the context of fighting terrorism, and engaging religious actors to solve multiple conflicts and crises around the world. Across a range of different domains, religion has progressively become an explicit and organized subject and object of US foreign policy in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. If God was supposed to be vanquished by the forces of modernity and secularization, why has the United States increasingly sought to understand and manage religion abroad? In what ways have the boundaries between faith and state been redefined as religion has become operationalized in American foreign policy? What kind of world order is emerging in the twenty-first century as the most powerful state in the international system has come to intervene in sustained and systematic ways in sacred landscapes around the globe? This book addresses these questions by developing an original theoretical framework and drawing upon extensive empirical research and interviews. It argues that American foreign policy and religious forces have become ever more inextricably entangled in an age witnessing a global resurgence of religion and the emergence of a postsecular world society.

Thinking about Jointly Preventing the “Color Revolution” by China and Russia

2021 ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
chensheng wang
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Healthy Development ◽  
Regional Coordination ◽  
Color Revolution ◽  
Return Method ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Surrounding Areas

The color revolution, which is a “low-cost and high-return” method in regime change, has become the main mean and priority option for America to subvert dissident regimes. In recent years, with the raising strength of containing and suppressing between China with Russia by the United States, America has tried its best to plan “color revolution” not only around China and Russia, but also within the borders of the two countries. China and Russia have become the key target of America in implementing the “color revolution”, however, the situation of the two countries to prevent the “color revolution” is particularly urgent. The “color revolution” not only disrupts the balance of the international system and regional security, but also seriously affects the stability of the country's political power and the healthy development of the economy. In view of this, it is now necessary for China and Russia to work together to prevent “color revolution”. Regarding the new changes, methods changed from non-violent to violent me, more advanced organizational methods, the younger generation of the participants, and changes in manifestations by the “color revolution”, as well as the underlying causes of the “color revolution”, China and Russia should have uindividualized strategies. China and Russia can strengthen cooperation in different areas, such as politics, economy, culture, ideological education, and regional coordination. China and Russia should take advantages of their respective experiences in dealing with “color revolution”, strengthen sharing and communicating experience with other countries in the region, and jointly build a barrier to prevent “color revolution” and protect the security and stability in China and Russia and the surrounding areas.

scholarly journals O papel das estratégias norte-americanas para as rupturas paradigmáticas na orientação da Política Externa jordaniana na segunda metade do século XX/The role of U.S. strategies for the paradigmatic changes in Jordanian foreign policy

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-216
Author(s):  
Leonardo Luiz Silveira Da Silva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Middle East ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
War Of Independence

Resumo: A descolonização do Oriente Médio que originou novos Estados na região da Bacia do rio Jordão, coincide temporalmente com um novo arranjo da ordem mundial que se reorganizava no período pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial. A trajetória da política externa da Jordânia na segunda metade do século XX é extremamente didática para entendermos os efeitos das relações de poder entre as nações em âmbito regional e global para a mudança de comportamento dos Estados que praticavam políticas anti-hegemônicas. Nesta trajetória destaca-se a intensa disputa pelos escassos recursos hídricos regionais, à medida que o recurso é fundamental para o desenvolvimento das atividades econômicas e para a própria soberania do Estado. Na já distante década de 1950, poucos anos após o conflito da Guerra de Independência que opôs Israel e os Estados árabes vizinhos, a Jordânia passou a adotar uma postura intransigente em relação à aproximação com Israel, apesar dos esforços dos Estados Unidos para promover a estabilidade regional. Com o acordo de paz entre Egito e Israel, mediado pelos Estados Unidos e costurado na virada das décadas de 1970 e 1980, o tabu da oposição sistemática a Israel foi rompido. Desta forma, este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar as mudanças na política externa da Jordânia na segunda metade do século XX, associando estas mudanças às novas estratégias norte-americanas para região, permitindo a compreensão das novas formas de imperialismo que dominam o cenário do Oriente Médio desde a década de 1970.Palavras-Chave: Jordânia, Estados Unidos, Israel, políticas anti-hegemônicas. Abstract: The decolonization of the Middle East that originated in the new states of the Jordan Basin region coincides temporally with a new arrangement of the world order, which is rearranged in the post - World War II period. The trajectory of the Jordanian foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century is extremely didactic to understand the effects of power relations between nations on a regional and global level to the changing behavior of States which practiced anti - hegemonic politics. On this path there is the intense competition for scarce regional water resources, as the feature is essential for the development of economic activities and the very sovereignty of the state. In the distant 1950s, a few years after the conflict of the War of Independence which opposed Israel and neighboring Arab states, Jordan adopted an uncompromising stance towards rapprochement with Israel, despite U.S. efforts to promote peace in the region. With the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, brokered by the United States and sewn at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, the pattern of systematic opposition to Israel was broken. This paper aims to present the changes in Jordan's foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century, linking these changes to the new US strategy for the region, allowing the understanding of new forms of imperialism which dominate the Middle East scenario since the decade 1970.Keywords: Jordan, United States, Israel, anti - hegemonic politics.

Rethinking of Turkey’s Geopolitics together with Eastern Mediterranean. Turkish Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 705 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-66
Author(s):  
Arıboğan Deniz Ülke ◽  
Ibrahim Arslan
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Humanitarian Interventions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Transportation Accessibility ◽  
The Eu

In the studies carried out within the scope of geopolitical discipline, the expression "geography is destiny" is frequently used and it is claimed that geography has unchangeable, irreversible qualities and the policies implemented are shaped through this assumption. This assumption ignores the humanitarian interventions over the geography and makes it difficult to understand the results produced by these interventions at both regional and global level. Similarly, the dynamic nature of international relations reveals new actors in the international system in times of bounce and collapse, and the borders that expand or narrow with each transformation can differentiate the geopolitical view with new sovereign countries. In the historical process, transportation accessibility, trade, search for raw materials, security and alliance relations have caused the same geography to be interpreted differently in different periods. This situation also applies to the geography of Turkey had been the homeland of empires. The developments in the Middle East over the past two decades has created a sensitivity in the relations between Turkey and the West, especially the United States. Competing interests with the EU and the US in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, has necessitated a reassessment of Turkey's geography.

scholarly journals Qatar's Modern Diplomacy and Al-Jazeera’s Role in Middle East’s Evolutions over the Recent Decades

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Ansar Amini ◽  
Mehdi Akbarsefat
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Persian Gulf ◽  
International System ◽  
Al Jazeera ◽  
Gulf Region ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Bargaining ◽  
Effective Role ◽  
The Persian Gulf

Development of information technology and internet today has given the concept of diplomacy a meaning broader than the past. Modern diplomacy is a mixture which has gained a specific position among academic topics. It is worth noting that the modern diplomacy was resulted from the world's changes after the World War II, where governments could no longer be the only players in the international system. The concept of modern diplomacy makes sense in relatively different ways; general diplomacy, real-time diplomacy,Nich diplomacy, etc. But our main focus in the paper is placed on the Jazeera's role in Middle East's evolutions over the recent decades. As a grand manifestation of modern diplomacy in the Middle East during the past decades, Al Jazeera is sometimes considered to be Qatar's foreign policy benchmarks (index), as it has had an effective role in events related to the country's diplomacy from the time it was established. We assume Qatar's political bargaining power in the international system, especially in the Persian Gulf region, as having enhanced over the recent years. In the present paper, therefore, the authors are about to address questions as to how Qatar's modern diplomacy has made it an active country in the Persian Gulf and in the Middle East region as well, and to what extent Al Jazeera's role is deemed to be serious in the recent changes happened in the Middle east. The present research's assumption emphasizes the role of establishment of Al Jazeera Media Channel as a diplomacy-enabling tool after changes were made in Qatar's government structure, a role which obviously affects the Middle East's recent evolutions (Movements and revolutions in Arabian Countries). Analytic-descriptive approach has been used in the present paper.

The rivalry of the United States and France in the arms market in the Arab countries of the Middle East in the 1970s

2019 ◽  
pp. 198-204
Author(s):  
Ilia Lakstygal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
The Us ◽  
Industrial Complexes ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
Fierce Competition

We consider the US-French interaction in the arms markets of the Arab countries of the Middle East during the period of the Arab-Israeli war of the Doomsday (1973) on the Camp David agreements between Egypt and Israel (1978) and the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war (1980). The relevance of the work lies in the fact that the region since the rise in oil prices from the late 1960s to present day remains a key competition place for the largest military-industrial complexes of Western countries, which primarily include the US and French. It is at this time lays the founda-tions of their competition. The purpose of the study is to explore the extent to which the activity of Paris, which, as an ally of Washington in NATO, openly collaborated in the supply of weapons systems with Soviet partners in the region, was willingly or unwillingly subordinated to actions or signals from the United States. We came to the conclusion that the lack of fierce competition, as well as countering the close cooperation of France with Libya, Iraq and Egypt, where the French managed to take a strong position compared to the Americans, is due to the fact that Washington tried to tear off the consumers of the Soviet military industrial complex from the USSR or even would weaken their dependence on Moscow in arms procurement.

Three Futures: Global Geopolynomic Transition and the Implications for Regional Security in Northeast Asia

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-792
Author(s):  
BRENDAN HOWE
Keyword(s):  
International System ◽  
Winning Coalition ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
Political Entrepreneur ◽  
Theoretical Evidence ◽  
Northeast Asian

Future predictions in security studies tend to fall into two broad intellectual traditions, liberal modernist hypotheses, and structural-realist or geopolitical hypotheses. These two major schools of thought essentially agree on the rationality of participants, but disagree about the nature of the environment facing policymakers and thereby framing their decisions. This project considers theoretical, rational, and statistical models associated with these approaches, analyzes the available data for future projection with regard to the Northeast Asian sub-region, and introduces a third rational future based on the social construction of a regional geopolynomic community, with America as a political entrepreneur, her regional allies as a winning coalition, and China and Russia as partners for peace. The focus of this work is on the Northeast Asian subset of the international system, containing the countries of China, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, North and South Korea, and considering the undeniable role played by the United States in the region, although at times statistical and theoretical evidence forces representation of a larger constituency.

scholarly journals Identity through foreign policy: Russia and China in the Middle East

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexander Slocombe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International System ◽  
World Order ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
The West ◽  
Identity Constructions

<p>Understanding national identity through foreign policy provides a strong means of ascertaining the prevailing social constructions within a great power nation state. There is a growing need to understand the national identities of Russia and China without pre-theorising or depending on asymmetric comparative studies with regional states. China and Russia are frequently compared to their regional neighbours which undermines understanding their unique identities. There are also frequent misunderstandings of contemporary Chinese and Russian national motives, often likening the modern Russian state to the Soviet Union, or attempting to understand China as a challenger to US unipolarity. Both great powers exhibit common characteristics of authoritarianism, both have recently endured massive social and national changes, and both have global interests that manifest in the Middle East such as securing vital geostrategic resources, both states are conscious of their native Muslim populations and to be recognised as a great power identity both must demonstrate influence in the Middle East. Yet, there have been significant differences in agendas and outcomes of their foreign policy decisions. This thesis seeks to use a constructivist framework to discern Russian and Chinese identity through comparison of their respective foreign policy. Contrary to “neo-realist” and “neo-liberal” arguments that accept state interests as rational, determined by the international system, and not determined by identity, this thesis seeks not to pre-theorise but to identify how their respective actions towards three key case studies in the Middle East; the Syrian Civil Conflict, the Iranian Nuclear Framework, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, indicate their prevailing social constructions. This thesis compares Russian and Chinese attitudes and actions towards these cases. Despite their similar disposition and principles towards international relations these two nations had significant points of difference. Drawing upon foreign policy analysis and a comparative model this thesis finds that despite the commonalities between the Russian and Chinese nations, Russian identity as great power, unique Eurasian power, and an alternative to the West, ensures a defiance of its relatively weak economic position to engage in positions of leadership in the Middle East, whilst China’s identity constructions that are common with Russia, its great power, civilisational, and alternative to the West constructions manifest despite an increasingly influential and material position in the world order, has provided little incentive to engage in meaningful ways throughout the Middle East’s recent conflicts.</p>

scholarly journals US – Iran Proxy War in Middle East Under Trump Administration

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Hino Samuel Jose ◽  
Laode Muhamad Fathun
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Regional Interest ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Status ◽  
Proxy War ◽  
Political Security

The heated bilateral relation between Iran and the United States has brought the middle east into another level of problem. The divided geopolitical and regional interest of both countries has led to several and many multidimensional issues, ranging from political, security, and even to economic ones. This article discussed the Iran – US tension on their proxy conflict in the Middle East. This article employs the Regional Security Complex Theory to construct the events related to both states’ proxy conflicts. The polarized region for sure has drawn another line that seems to be more complexed for both countries to achieve mutual understanding and continued peacebuilding. The US withdrawal from JCPOA, killing of Soleimani, and Saudi Arabia – Iran Yemen proxy war exacerbated the status quo. This article perceived that the intertwined issues show how the traditional thought of security should be redefined as both countries try to gain bargaining power. Especially with Iran that was hindered very much by sanctions and embargo placed by the US. This article discusses many important issues on Iran, US, and Saudi Arabia involvement and their correlated dynamics within the UN. This article analyzed Trump’s leadership style in the Middle East and its implication from the proxy war to the Middle East security architecture.

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