The article examines the political systems of the Middle East and what changes have taken place in the current realities, the impact of these transformations and their implications for the region and on world politics at this time.
Modification of political systems in the Middle East occupies a special place in the studies of foreign and domestic researchers. The region is a picture in many respects distinctive from the rest of the world, with its views on political and cultural processes. Moreover, interest is strengthened in connection with the current international situation, in which the Oriental theater experiences absolutely new trends in social transformation, making attempts to accept or repel problems of contemporary phenomena. In this article, an attempt is made to explicate examples of modification, obstruction or stagnation in the political systems of the states of the region. Therefore, we are faced with the question: Are the movements in the Middle East by the reaction of the Arab world to external factors, or are states experiencing a natural evolutionary transition?
The Middle East is a region with a huge historical past and cultural heritage. It is here that three world religions arose; therefore its distinctive feature is the inseparable link between religion and political activity. Since Islam is a young religious movement, political transformation began in the region not so long ago, if compared with the Western civilization, where the social crisis occurred during the reform period, after which development took several centuries, affecting the historical, philosophical, political and public spheres.
A particular transformation swept the region during the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, when it was necessary for local governments, under different conditions, to take a course for the reorganization of society. Such restructuring takes place in each of the Middle Eastern countries in its own way, and therefore there are several options:
- religious dogmas are gradually pushed aside, there is liberation and a slow transition to secular society;
- the value of human life rises to a solid foundation, religion is a spiritual combination of personal and public consciousness;
- religion becomes the main source of preserving the human good, a return to the roots occurs, democratic ideas cause repulsion, which leads to a radicalization of the external and internal political
Today, the political situation in this region is a variety, which has contributed too many factors: the colonial past, the ongoing Middle East conflict and the impact of Westernization. The latter factor, in turn, led to the fact that it caused the opposite effect, which led many countries to return to the ideas of fundamentalism. And this is not surprising, since any society should it gradually chew on the historical and social changes, realize and desire them. If such ideas accept the imposition, they are rejected, possibly acquiring a more aggressive form.
An example of a state that has come to a religious origin can be the Islamic Republic of Iran. After World War II, this country was actively modernized, reformed and de-Islamized. Such a policy entailed an anti- government direction, as it caused a great mistrust of the society. Taking advantage of the right moment, the Islamic opposition began the Islamic revolution in 1979, as a result of which the dreams of a new secular model failed. As a result, modern Iran is a theocratic state in which religion acts as a raison d’être and defines the formation of a political system.
In contrastto Iran, Turkey’s historical development took place, presenting a unique example in the area of social transformation. This country, which has a strong imperial past and a strong religious and ideological base, dramatically changed its political structure in the 1920s. The Institute of Panislam Unity and the Caliphate were abolished, and the creation of a secular state began [1, p.151]. Such phenomena as the movement for the adoption of an entirely new development model are exceptional in Arab history. For Turkey, the political vector of modernization was, first of all, connected with the search for adequate ways of socio-economic and political development, preservation of cultural identity and self-identification. Such specific historical development and civilizational features determined the specificity of its political system. This update touched upon all spheres of the life of the Turkish people, although in the 1990s, unsuccessful attempts were made to return religion to the political order. Residents of this country are so used to life, in which the theological side of the issue is only a spiritual manifestation, that any government efforts to take a course toward conservative reconstruction can lead to its overthrow. In addition, a more positive attitude is also due to the fact that Turkish citizens dream of joining the European Union, which gives many opportunities for economic prosperity.
The pessimistic situation is modern Syria, where a civil war is actively taking place. The Syrian crisis has become a major problem affecting the entire international community. The definition of the political situation here takes the form of a difficult task, since the parties to the civil conflict are not only the government and the opposition, but also various kinds of terrorist groups, the most radical of which are ISIS and JabhatanNusra. The latter are an example of strengthening the position of Islamism, taking as a basis for the ideas of fundamentalism and extremism, turning into an act of terrorism. Such factions manage to control the conquered territories, which creates a serious problem for the settlement of the crisis and to follow the concrete path of political development.
In North Africa, in the Maghreb countries, political modernization has had a significant impact on Islam and contributed to the secularization of society. In Tunisia, the result of modernization was a departure from the religious model of the state and the transition to a democratic one. The country adopted a democratic Constitution, the provisions of which did not differ in any way from the laws and regulations of a number of European states. As a result of social reforms, Sharia courts were banned.
Then in the 90s of the 20th century, the growth of Islamic organizations and parties began in Tunisia. It should be noted that the Tunisian leadership managed to integrate part of the moderate Islamists into the state-political system. At the initiative of the President of Tunisia, the “National Pact” was signed, which emphasized Tunisia’s ownership of Islamic civilization, but at the same time all democratic reforms and the “Civil Status Code” were confirmed. For a long time, a multi-party system operated in Tunisia. At the beginning of the XXI century the wave of Arab revolutions also affected Tunisia.
The coming to power of Islamic parties of moderate and radical persuasion at the beginning of the XXI century marked new tendencies of political modernization in the Islamic world. First, religious parties attempted to create a coalition government, which included both secular and religious parties. Secondly, the result of political modernization is the alternate dominance in the domestic political process of moderate, democratic Islamic parties, then radical Islamic parties. The third trend is the active political confrontation between religious and secular parties and the striving of religious parties for total domination.
During the Cold War, the territory was the scene of a clash of two blocs headed by the USSR and the US, the disagreements between which represented the main threat to security for the Middle Eastern countries. But the collapse of the bipolar order of international relations has led to a change in the course of political processes in the region, and the role of internal participants has increased dramatically [2]. This situation has led to aggravation of various conflicts, the bloodiest of which can be identified wars in the Persian Gulf and the war in Iraq, which have postponed their imprint on the further political course.
The appearance of external actors in order to resolve crisis situations led to the subsequent destabilization of the region and, consequently, to the rejection of democratic ideas as the main component of future development. Liberal principles began to be perceived as external pressure, as a special form of exploitation and subordination, which could result in the emergence of a controlling hegemon and the loss of its cultural and territorial identity. In these conditions, the region takes an intensified development of the form of the political system, based on religious dogmas, in such states as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, etc. [3].
The situation is aggravated by the fact that throughout the post-war period of the history of the Middle East the Arab-Israeli conflict has affected. The creation of the State of Israel and the subsequent crisis with the Palestinian refugees has brought a grim trace in the memory of the Arab people. Moreover, not confidence in modernized ideas was prompted by the fact that during the Yom Kippur War, Israel was supported by the leading Western states. After the subsequent oil crisis, in which the Middle Eastern countries found themselves in a favorable position, the religious spirit in political activity gained strong positions.
Therefore, today local governments see in religion a path of development and stability, a way of maintaining unity, and the younger generation the image of an ideal world and a prosperous future. This same generation, often becomes a moving object, those who, under the cover of faith, use them in achieving their political ambitions. Such a policy manifests itself in different ways and ways, and on its basis there are organizations that radicalize religious teachings, the purpose of which is to redistribute the political situation in the Middle East as a whole.
As mentioned above, the Middle East is a subject of interest for political scientists, specialists in international relations, historians, etc. The interest is predetermined not only by the fact that the region has a historical heritage, but also by the fact that it is geopolitical, since the main oil exporters - Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, etc. are concentrated here. In addition to this, the current migration crisis, a wave of uprisings and protests in the Arab Spring, reinforce the study of this region and its political systems.
In the XXI century, as a result of mass demonstrations, the statehood of several Middle Eastern countries began to collapse. The scientific director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences VitalyNaumkin and his colleagues emphasize the existence of internal causes that caused these changes [4]. They note that the destruction of the states of the Middle East is primarily connected with internal causes - political, economic, cultural and civilizational. At the same time, they point to the existence of certain external processes, although they do not specify this relationship [5].
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