Historical Context and Foreign Powers in the MENA

The region we call as the Middle East in the contemporary era has been defined as the birthplace of humankind and civilization. Many ancient societies with different cultural roots and languages such as Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Accadians, formed strong political administrations in the region and contributed toward the establishment of settled communities with complex political and social organizations.

Moreover, the region is the birthplace of the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which still have massive supporters throughout the world today. The pre-modern history of the region was also the history of the birth, conflict, and expansion of these religions.

The birth and the expansion of Christianity was one of the significant changes which dramatically affected the fate of the region. Jesus Christ was a Jewish preacher in Judea, which was under the domination of the Roman Empire. Jesus began to spread his understanding of life and criticized the current Jewish elites for cooperating with the Roman Empire, which kept under pressure the Jewish people. For that reason, many Jewish elites defined Jesus and his teaching as a threat against the current status quo and provoked the Roman forces to remove that threat.

However, the Christianity that initially got pressured by both Judaist elites and polytheistic religions was spread within non-Judaist people and become a massive religion which was adopted by the Roman Empire.

Prophet Mohammed, who was a merchant in Mecca, declared his prophecy in 610, and after an internal struggle within his society, managed to establish the first Islamic state. After his death, the caliphates continued the expansion of Islam throughout the region via conquest.

The Rashidun (rightly guided) term is used for the period consists of the
first four caliphs after the death of the Prophet Mohammed. These caliphs were elected by the Muslim society to rule the Islamic state. The period ended with
Muawiyah’s capture of the caliphate.

The fitna ,namely Sunni-Shia division among Muslim, emerged  over the succession issue  after the death of Prophet Mohammed. When the founding leader of the Muslim world passed away, Muslim society was divided into two factions over the leadership issue. One faction which claimed that the succession should be arranged according to blood supported Ali, who was both cousin and brother-in-law of Prophet Mohammed, as the new successor,  while the second faction claimed that the succession should occur according to the election.

After the assassination of Ali, Muaviye took over the state and established the Umayyad Dynasty in 661. The Umayyads proceeded the expansion of the state by conquering the whole Northern Africa and also much of the Iberian Peninsula. In the east, Umayyads managed to enter to Indian Peninsula and controlled some parts of it .

There had been nine important crusade military campaigns between 1096-1272 with huge destroying  effects on the region. The struggle between the two religions continued with the Crusade campaigns aiming at recapturing holy places from Muslim domination. The Crusade campaigns both accelerated the weakening of the Byzantine and Abbasid Dynasty and rising of powerful central administrations in Feudal Europe. The struggle between Muslims and Christians continued with the returning of the European powers as colonizers and has still being held with their influence over the region.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe, which once was one of the scientific knowledge production centers, lost its power. The Church became the new power center that had a strong influence both over the random individual’s life and political administrations. The dogmatic ideology advocated by the Church, which mainly argued that the universe should be explained with only the guidance of the Bible caused the Europeans to turn their back to almost all scientific deposits and the Dark age of the Europeans began until the Renaissance.

The Renaissance, the Reformation, the geographic discoveries, and the Industrial Revolution led the emergence of modern European states with substantial military power and the Ottoman State could not keep pace with the strengthening of these European powers, relatively it lost its military superiority, and towards the end of the 17th century, the expansion of the Ottoman State stopped, moreover, a retreat process began.

Also, by 19th century, a struggle between European powers started on the possible solutions to the famous Eastern Question, which was about the future of the Middle Eastern territory. Within this process, the Empire’s vast territories became one of the main targets of colonial powers.

With the outbreak of the First World War, a new phase began for the region. The Ottoman State entered the war within the Germany-Austria/ Hungary alliance and declared war against Great Britain, France, and Russia. During the war, the Ottoman State territory became one of the most brutal war-zone.

From the north, the Russian, and the south, the British forces organized bloody attacks to push the Ottoman State, which was seen as the weakest link in the chain, to surrender. With the outbreak of the war, in 1914, the British forces organized the Mesopotamian campaign towards Iraq. After harsh battles between the Ottoman and British forces, Great Britain managed to capture Baghdad in 1917. Moreover, another front of the struggle occurred in the Egypt-Palestine-Syria line. After repelling Ottoman raid towards the Suez Canal, the British forces defeated the Ottoman forces and occupied both Palestine and Syria.

The fundamental result of the First World War for the future of the region was its division by the Allied powers during the war. Initially, France and Great Britain generated the well-known Sykes-Picot secret treaty, and later the Russian Empire joined it. 

The war ended with the surrender of Germany and its allies. The Ottoman State lost a vast portion of its territory, including its remaining soils in the Middle East region. After the war, a mandate period started in the region. In the San Remo Peace Conference held in 1920, with the conformity of the Sykes-Picot agreement, Syria was left under he mandate of France, and Iraq, Jordan, and
Palestine to Great Britain. It was determined that those territories would become
independent in the future. 

The major  factors that constituted the base of the modern Middle East politics 
were the discovery of oil in the region, the emergence of new states under the
colony rules, and the foundation of resistance movements against the colonial
powers.

The first oil reserves in the region were discovered in Iran in 1905,
and later in other places of the region. The increasing importance of oil for
the industry, which was the main driving factor of economic development,
pushed the industrial powers to pay more attention to the region. For that
reason, with the discovery of oil, the region became a conflict zone for great
powers who wanted to control international politics.

The second important factor is the emergence of new states in the region. Before the First World War, the region was mostly controlled under Ottoman rule. After the war,Great Britain and France shared most parts of the region under influence zones, and each power created new states within their influence areas. The states that emerged during that period, such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, determined the political structure of the modern era.

Lastly, against colony rules, there emerged important social resistance movements in the region. Many of those movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, maintained their struggle after the foundation of independent states under the control of the colonial powers. 

The Muslim Brotherhood (Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimin)  was founded in 1928, by a school teacher Hasan Al-Banna, as a social organization targeting increasing solidarity within Sunni-Muslim society by offering health care and education services.The movement rapidly spread around Egypt and became an active organization against British rule. Moreover, similar organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood emerged in other parts of the region.

The end of the Second World War generated essential results for both the world and the region. Like many other places around the world, a decolonization process had begun in the Middle East after the Second World War. Within this process, the control of the colonial powers over the newly established states such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt diminished. In many of these states, nationalist regimes overtook the control of the state. However, the significant impact of the decolonization process should be the emergence of Israel as an independent state in Palestine in 1948. After the British administration decided to withdraw from Palestine, tension arose between the Arab and Jewish communities since both communities claimed their control over the region. The partition plan offered by the UN was not accepted by the Palestinian Arabs and also the Arab states in the region. With the declaration of the establishment of Israel, Arab states waged war over the Jewish community, but the newly born Israel managed to defeat Arab armies. After 1948 the Middle Eastern politics was
mainly dominated by the Arab-Israel tension. While Arab states did not
recognize Israel and struggled to destroy Israel, on the other hand, Israel
strived to put over its existence by the Arab states and also to expand its
territory through the occupation of the Palestinian lands. For that reason,
Arab states and Israel confronted each other in 1956, 1967, and 1973. These
wars were one of the significant reasons which prevented the establishment of
stability in the region.

The second significant result of the world wars was the emergence of two superpowers. While many of the great powers lost their capabilities during
the wars, the US and the USSR managed to secure their economic and military abilities. Therefore, after the Second World War, international politics was led by these two powers.

The primary issue which shaped regional politics during the Cold War was the Palestinian problem. While the region was shaken with both the
Arab-Israeli war and the upheavals in the Arab countries afterward, the Cold War increasingly was going on with the Korean War between 1950-1953.

With the encouragement of the US, Turkey and Iraq signed the establishment of
the Baghdad Pact in 1955. Initially, the pact was widened with the participation of Iran, Pakistan,and Great Britain, but later lost its power with the breakaway of Iraq from this pact after the coup in that country. When Iraq left the pact after the 1958 coup, the pact renamed as Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). Although the CENTO was not active, it was seen as an effective organization in preventing the expansion of the USSR. The organization was dissolved following Iran’s withdrawal after the Islamist revolution in this country in 1979.

While the Arab-Israeli wars and the Palestine issue were the backbones of Middle Eastern politics during the Cold War, other essential affairs affected
both the international and regional politics. One of the significant instances was the oil embargo of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) members, and the several politicaleconomic crises followed it. During the 1973 War, in order to prevent the support to Israel, the
OPEC members started an oil embargo against the US and all other states that backed Israel.  The OPEC embargo demonstrated that oil could be used as a strategic tool in order to manipulate international politics.

Another important event that created a radical change in regional politics was Iran (Shia) Islamist Revolution. Traditionally Iran was under direct
or indirect control of Western powers for a long time. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who acceded the throne in 1941, ruled the country in conformity
with the US’ guidance, especially against the USSR threat during the Cold War.

Another critical affair that occurred during the Cold War was the USSR’s Afghanistan invasion in 1980. 

The USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev declared a political and economic reformation process that would lead to the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. With the disintegration of the USSR, the Cold War ended, and a new
phase started for the world. In this new phase, the US became the “lonely superpower,” which was willing to construct a global order under its leadership.

While the first demonstration of the US preponderance occurred in the Middle East with the Gulf War, the first serious challenge to its global order came from the Middle East as well. The September 11 attacks organized by the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan targeted the US with the claim that the Westerners caused all troubles in the Muslim world. The war on terror doctrine adopted by the US after the September 11 attacks opened a new era both for the region and for the whole world. The US again divided the world into two parts; those who supported the US in its war against terrorism and
those who supported the terrorists. Initially, the US organized a military operation to Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime, which did not help the US and also to destroy the Al-Qaeda. Then, in 2003, the US started the invasion of Iraq, which was claimed as a supporter of the terrorist organizations and
holder of weapons of mass destruction. Both operations created destabilized zones in the region. 

The Security Council is the primary organ of the United Nations, which has the
responsibility of fundamental security issues in the international system. The Council has five permanent and ten non-permanent members.
While the non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms, the permanent members never change. The permanent members which are the US, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and China, have the right of veto, which enables them to refuse any proposal in the Council.

During the Cold War, the main objective of the US in the Middle East was
to prevent a possible Soviet expansion throughout the region. After the end
of the Cold War as being the only superpower in the international system, the
US’s interests and priorities changed towards the Middle East. In the post-
Cold War period, the US foreign policy towards the Middle East based on
two critical dimensions. These are (1) securing the oil reserves and preventing
external actors from controlling them, and (2) guaranteeing the security of
Israel. For that reason, in a dual containment policy, the US has focused upon
two states, Iraq and Iran, which have been identified as the main threat against
Israel’s security and also against the US’ influence in the region.

Another important  phenomenon that deepened the instability of the Middle East region  was social uprisings started in 2011.A peddler named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire for protesting adverse economic conditions of the
country and the harsh intervention of the police in Tunis in which there were substantial economic problems for a long time. Bouazizi’s protest was transformed into a mass outcry and uprising, demanding better economic conditions and better living standards for whole people. The uprisings immediately affected other societies, which had almost the same problems with
Tunisian people. In a short period, nearly in all countries of the region, people poured into the streets and organized meetings against the current regimes.
People’s demands caused different reactions in different countries. While in Tunisia, the current regime well-received the demands and implemented reforms, in Egypt, the current leader agreed to step down and hand over the control of the country after a free election. While these examples ended peacefully, in Libya, the existing regime refused to meet the demands of the people. In this case, the existing regime preferred to struggle with the opponents, even with the military power of the country. For that reason, in Libya, the uprisings transformed into a civil war between the regime supporters and opponents.