Essay on "Middle East Economy and Politics"

Essay 12 pages (3880 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

(ICG)[footnoteRef:3] [3: ICG,. "Exploiting Disorder." Atavist. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 June 2016.]

They are representative of the radicalization of countries, villages, and individuals. The group is a bi-product of the many social injustices suffered and experienced in the 2011 Arab revolutions. The other groups seek to create unity for one specific population whereas IS seeks to create unity across the Muslim world, accomplishing their objectives any way they can. With their origins being different and lending more towards aftermaths of battle, this is another key difference. While IS seeks to provide victory for all Muslims, the PLO or Palestine Liberation Organization seeks to promote a massive terrorist campaign to gain freedom and rights for the Palestinians. PLO was formed in 1964 during Cairo's Arab League Summit. Its original goal was liberation of Palestine via armed struggle at the same time seeking to destroy Zionism within the Middle East. It was not long before PLO split into various factions: DFLP, PFLP, PFLP-GC, and Fatah.

Later on in 1967, the goal changed from the liberation of Palestine to the destruction of Israel showing their interests were single-minded with only seeking liberation or destruction of or for a specific group/nationality. Eventually, the group sought diplomatic approaches through Yasser Arafat after ship hijackings and achieved partial self-rule because of it.

Kurdish Worker's Party of PKK has Marxist-Leninist roots and was formed in 1978, calling for an independent Turkish State in Turkey. Just like PLO, PKK wanted independence and self-autonomy for the majority Kurds in south and south east Turkey. They tried like the other two groups to achieve their means through violence, but did not achieve much success, rolling back on demands in the 1990's. "In the 1990s, the organization rolled back on its demands for an independent Kurdish state, calling instead for more autonomy for the Kurds.

It suffered a major blow in 1999 when its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was arrested and jailed for treason." (BBC News)[footnoteRef:4] [4: BBC News,. "Profile: Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 June 2016.]

They only had minor success when they employed truces or ceasefires as their violent tactics only led to Turkey seeing the PKK as a terrorist organization. Eventually violence again erupted in recent years with the PKK fighting Turkish and IS forces. This group exists to protect the rights of Kurdish people and in doing so sparked a civil war with Turkey. All three groups seek freedom and independence, however each one for different reasons and for certain groups.

4.

Iran is a fairly developed country in the Muslim world. That being said, it is under authoritarian rule. And while it exists under constant opposition, Iranian activists and the desire of civilians to have certain liberties had led to elections being held in Iran. That is because civil society remain highly developed in Iran. "During the twentieth century, the environment showed a 'willingness' to establish civil society organizations and associations." (Lust 270)[footnoteRef:5] Meaning Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was replaced after he was overthrown by (at first) a liberal parliamentary regime, creating about radical political change and sowing the seeds for elections to take place in the country. [5: Lust, Ellen. The Middle East. 13th ed. SAGE, 2013. Print.]

As Lust points out, civil society was a main reason for political change within the country. That being said, the ongoing election results led to increase in freedom of expression in Iran with Khatami taking office. That ended quickly however, as the Iranian state began curtailing freedom of the press and saw further curtailment of freedoms from the election of President Ahmadinejad. The 2009 presidential protests led to even greater restriction of freedom as thousands of protestors were rounded up, imprisoned, and murdered.

In the end, while there is a greater development of civil society that had led to elections being held in Iran, Islamic law rules all and keeps freedoms from increasing to a point where issues like women's rights are kept from being fully explored and realized. Repression still exists within the Iranian state. Some elected officials made progress toward reform. While others regressed back to Islamic rule.

Iran is a country that has political parties and seeks to allow its people some democratic freedoms. However, these freedoms must fall in line with the Islamic revolution. If they do not, they are quickly curtailed.

Political parties remain weak in the Arab world for several reasons. The first reason is their inability to formulate encompassing and wide issue-oriented outlooks or policies. Numerous political parties remain tribal, narrow, kin-based, and personalistic lending to a clientelistic distribution model instead of constituency interest aggregation. Furthermore, any parties formed in the Arab Spring are new and inexperienced, emerging from authoritarian environments that experienced suffocated political activity absent of well-developed political platforms that appeal to the population. Although this trend appears through the Muslim world, Libya's voters elected a non-Islamist party in the election of July 2011. (Kenney)[footnoteRef:6] [6: Kenney, Karen Latchana. Iran. Edina, Minn.: ABDO Pub. Co., 2011. Print.]

Typically, populations under authoritarianism pose a major challenge to reach out to when it comes to political party appeal. There are several reasons for this. "First, because of weak legislatures, political parties have been unable to influence meaningful policy changes. Second, because parties are incapable of influencing policy, they remain key sources of patronage and connections to government services." (Lust 254) Aforementioned lack of trust in political parties can be attributed to low parliamentary efficacy and autonomy "Parliaments remain weak because they are not authorized to design, pass, and implement policies without the heavy-handed role of the regime. As such, political parties in authoritarian Arab countries have become vehicles of clientilistic redistribution, agents that promote personalistic ties and relations." (Lust 256) Along with lack of trust comes lack of motivation. Voters have motivations that often forgo parties. Jordan presents a good example. Voters there vote in order to gain access to state resources, leveraging more benefits from current regimes. 90% of Arab citizens held on to the belief that wasta was more important in securing jobs than political parties.

5.

Religion plays a major role for most in the Middle East. For example, Muslim take classes in Islamic upbringing and Islam with non-Muslims being offered lessons in Islam. Countries that are Muslim also stressed the significance of religion in constructing the citizenry. "For example, according to a 1988 law the educational philosophy of the kingdom involves belief in God; belief in the lofty example of the Arab nation; and Islam as an intellectual and behavioral system that respect the person and values the place of reason." (Lust 570) While some countries opted for secular and nationalist left, throughout the 1970's and 1980's such activity waned and instead as replaced with religious activities and a religion-oriented perspective.

Parties like the Muslim Brotherhood grew both in size and power as Sharia law became the law of Islam and most countries in the Middle East. In recent years Freedom and Justice Party along with the Muslim Brotherhood and Rash Ghannushi's Ennahda have won several political elections amongst the emergent democracies of Tunisia and Egypt. (Sarfati)[footnoteRef:7] This is partly due to the large amount of civil unrest in these countries and the belief that Islam will help create order amongst the chaos. [7: Sarfati, Yusuf. Mobilizing Religion In Middle East Politics. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2013. Print.]

Islamism or political Islam emerged in the Arab world in the 1980's due to civil unrest, sparking assassinations like that of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, various bombings, armed conflict, and kidnappings in Egypt, Algeria, and Lebanon. These acts were not only seen as justified through an interpreter's version of Islam, but also served to unite a people that felt desperate and at a disadvantage. Islam like most other religions, serves a means of unifying people and bring about change and order. This is not to say however, that Islamists cannot find positive outcomes from a democracy.

Religion plays a role in Islamist action. However, moderate Islamists maintain certain ideals that can only be achieved through "long-term education, social and economic engagement, constituency building, and advocacy." (Brown and Shahin) It is through the radical end that violence tends to spread. Moderate Islamists preach democratic fundamentals. "Whereas moderate Islamists stress that change will come about gradually, peacefully, and with mass support, and indeed largely urge full participation in political processes." (Brown and Shahin)[footnoteRef:8] By moderate Islamists believing in democratic fundamentals, democracy can emerge and religious political parties that support such ideals can and will promote democratic action amongst their respective public. [8: Brown, Nathan J and Emad Eldin Shahin. The Struggle Over Democracy In The Middle East. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. Print.]

However, radical Islamists are the ones that post the greatest threat to democracy. They believe the violence they exercise is justified and can therefore do what they feel necessary to continue their aims. That is why groups like the al-Qaeda felt they were able to… READ MORE

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