Abstract
The Middle East, since the end of World War II, has been a hotbed of conflicts and wars as well as one of the most unstable regional security orders in the world. The United States has traditionally sought to maintain regional security and stability through the so-called policy of “three pillars” and a corresponding balance of power system between regional rival states. In 2003 the George Bush administration attempted to directly control the region through military invasion of Iraq but has ended up with counterproductive consequences. This paper argues that the post-war security structure in the Middle East developed under U.S. supervision and maintained until 2003 is breaking down giving rise to a new security order with two important but rival power centers – Iran-centered Shiite Crescent stretching from Tehran to Beirut, and Saudi Arabia-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states backed by Egypt and Jordan. The benefits from cooperation for development, nitially underwritten by European colonial powers after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire at peace and security and the historic lessons of destructive conflicts and wars provide compelling incentives for leaders of the two rival power centers to resolve intraregional conflicts and lay the foundation for a stable regional security order in the Middle East.

Dr Mohammed Nuruzzaman. (2009) The Emerging New Security Order In The Middle East, IPRI Journal, Volume-09, Issue-1.
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