Causes of Unrest in the Middle East Essay

“There is, then, an economic basis for the absence of democracy in the Arab world. But it is structural. It has to do with the ways in which oil distorts the state, the market, the class structure, and the entire incentive structure. Particularly in an era of high global oil prices, the effects of the oil curse are relentless: Not a single one of the 23 countries that derive most of their export earnings from oil and gas is a democracy today.”

Often called “The Crossroads of the World”, the Middle East stands between three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Over thousands of years, migrating traders and conquerors crossed this region and spread the ideas, inventions, and achievements of many civilizations. It is an incredibly important part of the world with rich history, important resources, and deep religious and cultural traditions. However, in the past decades up to today, the Middle East has been consumed by conflict and chaos. Although different circumstances surround each issue, religion, terrorism, disputes over the control of natural resources, and weak governance primarily allow conflict to persist in the Middle East.

The premise of democracy originates from the principal of self-determination where people govern their own affairs; therefore it would be contradictory to assume that an infringement of self-determination through an invasion and subsequent occupation would evoke democracy amongst the populace. Indeed, it is questionable how the elimination of a functional nation. The Bush Doctrine has demonstrated that the United States can and will act unilaterally in international relations if it so desires regardless of international

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.

Some long standing societies have failed to become democratic, even with popular support for such a political system for many different reasons. One, tradition and change is hard. Some states have such a thick religious, cultural, etc. history that they do not know how to incorporate democracy with what their state has, needs and wants. Two, they do not want a democracy. They want to be different and try something new to become better or even equal to the presence that the United States used to play as the main actor of politics worldwide. They see the United States diminishing in ways that it does not wish to, so it does not go with the democracy route. Three, some leaders may find that fear works better than anything else. Isolating people

The Great Power involvement in the Middle East politics often creates and contributes to more conflicts and wars. The Middle East, a region described by Victor Israelyan as ‘one of sharp confrontation between the two superpowers unavoidably fell victim to such pressures.

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.

War on ISIS has been been a problem in the world today. We have been going back and forth on rather we should declare war on them for the longest. My personal opinion I think we should because they 're never going to stop abusing america and kidnapping our american citizens until we bomb and kill them. Over the years different presidents have had their input on if we should declare war on them or not. For one, former president George W. Bush said yes and everybody thought that was a huge problem. People need to know that ISIS is a threat to the united states.

We have seen waves of democratization continue to come and go and the most recent one that was successful in many countries was in the 70’s and the 80’s. Democratization was occurring all over Latin America, in Asia-Pacific countries such as Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, and in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, we did see an attempt to democratize the Middle East and North Africa through the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring has affected countless countries including Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and even Saudi Arabia, however, there have been different effects and outcomes in these countries with only one becoming a constitutional democracy and others having been thrown into a civil war that continues to

The modern conception of the Middle East was molded in the early 20th century. The French and the British both formulated their foreign policy in the Middle East to help advance their own self interests. Power hungry and desperate for new land, British and French governments struggled to shape the Middle East. Britain’s unwillingness to learn about the people living in the Middle East, coupled with their underestimation of Arab nationalism, made for an inauspicious state. People in these Middle Eastern nations were unable to advocate for themselves and were taken advantage of by corrupt government officials or imperializing western powers. The French and British erred by disregarding pertinent information about the nationalist feelings of the

The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 used many of the same arguments as the British did years earlier – but both were instances of disguised imperialism by self-determination. The conflicts shown in the Middle East today still stem from control of oil, and these will likely continue as long as industrialized nations attempt to maintain control of the oil reserves in less developed areas of the

Iran had a liberal dictator leader by the name of Muhammad Mossadeq from 1951-1953. He was the first democratically elected Prime Minister in Iranian history with democratic views. Mossadeq was determined to make Iran and free, independent, democratic state who were able to support themselves economically without international leaders “help”. At the time England had established in oil company based in Iran called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). Democracy symbolised freedom, an opportunity for the Iranian people to claim what was theirs and build a better country. However the United States did not like this liberalization because if Iran does become strong and independent they will go seek partnership somewhere else and it will not be

The ambition of the often autocratic leaders to acquire more land, which may bring them access to oil, water or arable land. The problem according to Sørli et. al is “scarcity” and “abundance” (147). Water is scarce, and oil is in abundance, but the access to both is limited. According to our text, the new “water wars” have emerged as a major source of conflict, in addition to the “oil wars” (Anderson et. al, 226). Water is scarce in the Middle East, and will continue to dwindle as the population rises. Not every country has the same access to the water sources, which will naturally cause problems. For example, Israel has control of the Golan, and Egypt of the Nile, and Kuwait of the Persian Gulf. Oil is in abundance, but only to a limited number of countries in the Middle East causing great economic disparity between those who have, and those who do not. Kuwait, having access to the Persian Gulf, produces a large supply of oil to international players. Given its high value internationally, and its worth, oil is much sought after.

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.

were chosen by God to set up a state of Israel where they could not be