چکیده:
The Middle East has witnessed dramatic changes in the last few years. Although some countries are experiencing new democratic changes, others face serious problems. Some state formal relations have changed from close relations to some unfriendly exchange of words and severed relations. Some countries are on the verge of civil war while others witness daily acts of terror. The main question this paper addresses is how the plurality of identities have led to security challenges in the Middle East. The article argues that the plurality of identities may explain many security challenges in the region. Following a look at the variety of discourses that constitute different political identities in the region, their impact on domestic and regional security will be discussed.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Following a look at the variety of discourses that constitute different political identities in the region, their impact on domestic and regional security will be discussed.
My main argument is that multiple discourses that shape the identities of the states as well as social groups and define their ideal or existing "normative order" lead to a wide range of possibility for securitizing other states in the region.
In the Middle East, one may see how various discourses other than the so-called international culture (see Wendt 1999), shaping different state identities, may at the same time securitize others as enemies and make coercive measures against them justified and in this way act as threats against others.
Arab, non-Arab, Sunni, Shiite, secular, Islamist, radical, moderate, anti-Zionist, anti- Imperialist are the main identities of the states with domestic roots and/or resulting from historical experiences in their interaction with the modern state system.
As for the Middle East, Arab secular thinkers of the early 20th century believed that "religion was not linked with any fixed ruling system [and that] Islam does not prohibit Muslims from establishing new political systems on the basis of the new theories of human rationality and experiences of various nations.
" In practice, the Middle East version of secularism in most cases meant privatization of Islam, autocratic state power, and tacit support for continued European economic and political interests.
VI- Plurality of Identities and Security Challenges These discourses exist in the Middle East and they constitute the identities of various actors: individuals, civil society forces, and states.