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religions in the middle east
current middle eastern conflicts
religions in the middle east
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The current Instability faced within the Middle East Sparks numerous Theories as to why the region is facing instability so furiously. Two of the leading theories state that either 1. the current geopolitical challenges faced are due to the unravelling of the agreements established during the first world war and that we are witnessing the failings of the crude border-lines drawn by those who placed them in the the Sykes - Picot Agreement. The latter theory states that the unravelling of the World War I agreement is not the cause of the challenges faced but rather nationalism, local politics, and other smaller scaled ordeals are the cause of the modern instability.
Sykes - Picot was created during WWI to benefits the French-British relations and to strengthen their influence in the MIddle East. The agreement stated that the two powers would draw the borders of the regions that they would control. Britain influence would be an indirect control established by advisors however, the French ocontrol would be fully direct and would mirror traditional French colonialism. The borders drawn within the agreement would be set to become the modern states within the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan). From this agreement the current affairs may be simply the failings of the borders. Local religious practices in the MIddle east are not easily characterized or mapped. The extensive traditions that vary from village to village are nearly limitless in number and diversity. When the SPA(Sykes - Picot Agreement) was written the two powers in position did not account, nor care for this diversity or the possible effects that placing differing tradition within the same stratified border could have within the region, instead the powers drew th...
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...are falling apart? Far from it. They are receiving more attention today because everyone’s eyes are on Syria, but back in 2005 pan-Islamic movements also operated in this area, including an Islamic emirate in al-Qaim near the Syrian-Iraqi border” (Dammit, It Is NOT Unravelling: An Historian’s Rebuke to Misrepresentations of Sykes-Picot. Reidar Visser, 2013). Scholars suggest that the reason SPA is so easily blamed for instability in the MIddle East is because it 's been done many times and provides an easy quick answer to a problem that continues with no clear answer.
Suggesting or denying that SPA plays a role within the infrastructure of the MIddle East and its Current geopolitical affairs remains a debated subject with both sides attempting to supply a definitive answer for the cyclic rate of instability and conflict within the SPA drawn states of the MIddle East.
The Middle East has historically rebuked Western influence during their process of establishing independence. When Britain and France left the Middle East after World War II, the region saw an unprecedented opportunity to establish independent and self-sufficient states free from the Western influence they had felt for hundreds of years. In an attempt to promote nationalistic independence, the states of the region immediately formed the League of Arab States in 1945. The League recognized and promoted the autonomy of its members and collaborated in regional opposition against the West until 1948 when Israel declared independence. Israel represented then and now an intrusive Western presence in the Arab world. The ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict typifies this cultural antagonism. The Cold War refocused attention to the Middle East as a site of economic and strategic importance for both sides, yet the two hegemons of the Cold War now needed to recognize the sovereignty of the Middle Eastern states. With their statehood and power cemented, the Middle Easte...
Ben-Gurion, David. “Status-Quo Agreement.” In Israel in the Middle East: Second Edition, edited by Itamar Rabinovich and Jehude Reinharz, 58-59. Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2008.
In the novel War and Peace In the Middle East, author Avi Shlaim argues that Arab nations have been unable to escape the post-Ottoman syndrome. In particular he describes how the various powers inside and outside the region have failed to produce peace. While some of Shlaim's arguments hinder the message, I agree with his overall thesis that the Middle East problems were caused and prolonged by the failure of both powers and superpowers to take into account the regional interests of the local states.
The relations between the U.S and the Middle East are strained at best. The troops deployed in the area face constant threat of attack by a militant group. These broken relations between the U.S and the Middle East started over 50 years ago, with the Iran Hostage Crisis. Root causes of the crisis were many. One was U.S greed over oil in Iran. The second, the coup in Iran organized and funded by the CIA. The U.S dependence on foreign oil is another cause of the problems. Lastly, should the U.S stop moving into other countries sovereign lands and trying to “Prevent the evil of communism”, the nation would not have so many problems around the world. This worry was even shown in Iran (Kinzer, 10). While often blamed on radicals, the strained relations between the U.S and the Middle East are a direct result of a poor US foreign policy.
The Middle East has since time immemorial been on the global scope because of its explosive disposition. The Arab Israeli conflict has not been an exception as it has stood out to be one of the major endless conflicts not only in the region but also in the world. Its impact continues to be felt all over the world while a satisfying solution still remains intangible. A lot has also been said and written on the conflict, both factual and fallacious with some allegations being obviously evocative. All these allegations offer an array of disparate views on the conflict. This essay presents an overview of some of the major literature on the controversial conflict by offering precise and clear insights into the cause, nature, evolution and future of the Israel Arab conflict.
Sixty-three percent of Iraq’s population is Shia Muslim, thirty-three percent is Sunni Muslim (Lunde, 2002). For the past five centuries the minority, Sunni Muslims, have held political power in Iraq. It was not until recently that the majority, the Shia Muslims, was able to experience political power. The tensions between Sunni and Shia in Iraq are not due to religious differences formed after Muhammad’s death 1,382 years ago and are not inevitable, as proven by the relationships between Sunni and Shia in other countries and in the past (Shuster, 2011). The state of unrest surrounding the Sunni and Shia Muslims of Iraq is due to politics, power, and privilege, caused by the change of attitude in Islamic leaders in government and the discrimination of the Shia by the Sunni minority. This has been partly due to the fact that early in their history Shias were not the majority and therefore lost political power. This unbalance and the differences between the two sects are most unstable and evident during times of political unrest (Hunter, n.d).
The French’s mandate over Syria after World Ware One had an irrevocable impact on the nations’s communal factions. The mandate lasted from 1920-1946 and they begun their rule with intentionally made sectarian divisions. They were made in order to prevent Arab nationalism and stifle national independence movements. The divisions were made my religious and national minority. Granting the minorities independent status locations where they make up the majority. For example, there was a large population of Alawites in the mountain range behind Latakia, the French declared them a separate state. The Druze were granted the right and ability to govern themselves in the city of Jabal, just south of Damascus. The one religious group that did not enjoy the effects of the French mandate were the Sunni Muslims. In Syrian history, the Sunnis were viewed as the elitist, being dominant in politics, officer corps, gendarme and the police force. With the imposed separation of communal factions, the Sunnis had less power and influence. The divide-and-rule strategy the French imposed eroded the relationships among Syria’s religious and ethnic groups, ties that would have been valuable later in Syrian politics. Further analyzing the major religious factions of Syria thorough depicts development of their bitter relationships (Fildis).
The Arab-Israeli conflict, initiated over one-hundred years ago and still continuing, has confounded both policy-makers and citizens; despite the best efforts of foreign leaders, only one substantial accord has materialized in the decades of negotiations: the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979. Before one undertakes to understand such a complex topic as the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, however, a broad knowledge of the historical background of the two countries involved is essential to understanding the motivations and aspirations of both parties, which in turn will shed light on the peace treaty itself. Foreign policy can’t be viewed in a vacuum; rather, each country must be viewed as a nation with legitimate historical and political aspirations . Also, when evaluating foreign policy, there are two methods of analysis: one is to concentrate on the output and documents produced by working backwards, deducing the intents of the various leaders from the end result; the other method is to focus on the politics of decisionmaking, viewing foreign policy as a result of individual political aims. The first approach focuses on the primary sources, while the other concentrates on the parties themselves. In this paper, I will give a comprehensive background of Israel-Egypt relations, and utilize the two forms of analyses to deduce what the goals of each party were at the time the treaty was signed, and use the lens of hindsight to evaluate whether their goals were met.
“One Arab nation from Gulf to the Ocean,” gives meaning to the term “Pan-Arabism” in the Middle East. A notion where Arab nations transcend their state boundaries to form political mergers with other states and achieve an ‘Arab unity.’ The existence of Arab states had been tumultuous throughout the decline of the Muslim order, the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian defeat, Six Day War and Arab-Israeli war in 1973. This essay will critically examine Foud Ajami’s case for a raison d’état in the Middle East and his claim that there were six broad trends leading to the alteration of the balance of power away from Pan-Arabism and towards the state. It will be argued that Pan-Arabism was a romantic ideology that Arab states found convenient to support, all in advancement of their nationalistic state agendas. It was never a realistic endeavor that was physically undertaken by the Arab states and was thus never alive in a tangible sense. However, Pan-Arabism as an ideology had a place in the Middle East and was thus alive in an ideological sense.
This essay will focus on how theorists of peace and conflict have analysed the conflict in recent history. Especially, the peace process after the first Palestinian intifada and the 1993 Oslo-agreements will be analysed. In addition, this essay will shed light on the involvement of the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is not a secret at all that the US has a close relationship with Israel. How was this relationship realized? Taking into account that the US currently is one of the biggest powers in the world, what is the effect of this relationship on the conflict?
“The roots of all these problems go back to the settlement imposed on the Middle East in 1918-1922”(Field 26). Since before the start of World War I, there was a great Western presence in the area we know today as the Arab world. Britsh and French forces occupied Northern Africa since 1882; British occupied Egypt, at the request of Sultan in Constantinople, and the region we today call the Mahgreb: Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. In addition, to its presence in Egypt, Britain also kept the Gulf states under her protection and held Aden as a colony.
Much of the modern political Arab world was born at the end of World War I, as outside powers divided up their shares of territories that were loyal to their regimes. For example, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon came to exist along side the precarious state of Palestine. By World War II, these states had begun to want independence, and the following decades would witness revolution, regime change, violence, and, ultimately, a break from the grips of the Ottoman Empire and European powers (Provence). Today, the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings, ongoing now for several years, are in part as a result of mid-20th-century political rule and administration by outside powers.
Gerner, Deborah J., and Philip A. Schrodt. "Middle Eastern Politics." Understanding the contemporary Middle East. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2008. 85 -136. Print.
For many centuries, Judaic and Arabian societies have engaged in one of the most complicated and lengthy conflicts known to mankind, the makings of a highly difficult peace process. Unfortunately for all the world’s peacemakers the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the war between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, is rooted in far more then ethnic tensions. Instead of drawing attention towards high-ranking officials of the Israeli government and Hamas, focus needs to be diverted towards the more suspect and subtle international relations theory of realism which, has imposed more problems than solutions.
...nd Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 890-895. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.