Preview

Outlines of global transformations: politics, economics, law

Advanced search

SOVEREIGNTY AND STATEHOOD IN THE MIDDLE EAST – THE UNBEARABLE FRAGILITY OF BEING

https://doi.org/10.23932/2542-0240-2017-10-2-97-109

Abstract

The impact of globalization, the emergence of transnational actors and the destruction of the states by internal conflicts and/or foreign interference have contributed to the weakening of their sovereignty. In the Middle East, states often face serious constraints on the part of regional and global powers. Their sovereignty is also being eroded under the pressure of numerous non-state actors. External forces (individual states and international organizations) have over the decades formed with varying degrees of success the political face of the Middle East with directly impacting on the structure of regional international relations. This influence was ambiguous. Despite the injustice of the colonial policy, and arbitrarily drawn borders, the partition of the Ottoman legacy was a step towards modernisation of traditional societies, the emergence of modern Middle Eastern States, which, however, were in genetic dependence on external  players. The absence of great powers, able to form new regional  system, was the result of a colonial policy and at the same time a  factor in the preservation of the special role of external players in  the Middle East. The problem of external intervention was closely  connected with the attempt of new reading of the concept of  sovereignty. This was preceded by the collapse of the bipolar system, which gave birth to the idea that all major threats to  the world were eliminated. Interventions in the form of humanitarian intervention and R2P in Iraq and Libya led to the collapse of the  former political system due to the lack of institutions, and  contributed to the strengthening of non-system players, including terrorist groups.

About the Author

I. D. ZVYAGELSKAYA
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) MFA Russia
Russian Federation

Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Department of Oriental Studies Moscow State Institute of International  Relations (University) MFA Russia

76, pr. Vernadskogo, Moscow, Russian Federation, 119454



References

1. Buzan B. (1983). People, States and Fear. The National Security Problem in International Relations. Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books Ltd. 262.

2. Boutros-Ghali B. (1995) Agenda for Peace. 2nd ed. New-York: United Nations Pubns. 159.

3. Dang Hai-Anh H., Ianchovichina E. (2016). Welfare Dynamics with Synthetic Panels: The Case of the Arab World in Transition. World Bank Group, Policy Research Working paper, (7595). 52. URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/785401468000267287/pdf/WPS7595.pdf (Accessed: 18.04.2017)

4. Egorin A. Z. (2012). The Overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan Diary of 2011–2012. Moskva: IV RAN. 431.

5. Gellner E. (1991). Nations and Nationalism. Moskva: Progress. 602.

6. Il’in M.V., Kudryashova I.V. (eds.). (2011). The Asymmetry of World System of Sovereignty: zones of problematic statehood. Moskva: MGIMO-Universitet. 248.

7. Kissinger H. (2016). World Order. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo AST. 512.

8. Lebedeva M., Marketti R. (2016). Instability at the Middle East and the Decline of the Westphalian System. Moskva: Valdaiskii klub.17. URL: http://valdaiclub.com/files/11790/ (Accessed: 17.04.2017)

9. Lubura-Winchester B, Jones R. (2013). The Geopolitics of Humanitarian Intervention: The Responsibility to Protect in Libya. The Arab World Geographer / Le Geographe du monde arabe, 16 (3). 245–266.

10. Lustik I. (1997). The Absence of Middle Eastern Great Powers: Political “Backwardness” in Historical Perspective. International Organization, 51 (4). 653– 683.

11. Lynch M. (2012). The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions in the New Middle East. New York: Public Affairs. 293.

12. O’Driscoll D., van Zoonen D. (2017). The Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraq Subnationalism and the State. 51. URL: http://www.meri-k.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PMF-Report-0.2.pdf (Accessed: 18.04.2017).

13. Pattison J. (2009). Humanitarian Intervention, the Responsibility to Protect and jus in bello. Global Responsibility to Protect, 1. 364–391.

14. Primakov E. (2012). Konfidentsial’no: Blizhnii Vostok na stsene i za kulisami. Confidentially: the Middle East on stage and behind the scenes. 2nd ed. Moskva: IIK Rossiiskaya gazeta.414.

15. Reich B. (ed.). (1996). An Historical Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Westport Connecticut: Greenwood Press.672.

16. Schneer J. (2010). The Balfour Declaration. The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. New York: Random House. 432.


Review

For citations:


ZVYAGELSKAYA I.D. SOVEREIGNTY AND STATEHOOD IN THE MIDDLE EAST – THE UNBEARABLE FRAGILITY OF BEING. Outlines of global transformations: politics, economics, law. 2017;10(2):97-109. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.23932/2542-0240-2017-10-2-97-109

Views: 1614


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2542-0240 (Print)
ISSN 2587-9324 (Online)