BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

POLITICAL TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST: AN OVERVIEW

Author: Razia Sultana

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2011v32n2a3

ABSTRACT

Over the last couple of months, the Middle East has been the epicentre of turmoil. The protests for changing the long authoritarian regimes by the civilians have gradually become the flash point of crises throughout the region. After the political unrests in Tunisia and Egypt, conflicts have been spreading in different parts of the region such as Syria, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco and more precisely in Libya. By now, the involvement of NATO including the USA and other external powers in Libya has been a food for thought for the whole world as to what is going on in this region. The overall situation raises a lot of questions regarding whether the protests would pave the way for democracy or intensify more turbulence and instability. In this backdrop, the main intention of the paper is to highlight the existing situation of the region coupled with the root causes of the conflicts as well as the implications of the crises. Given that, the paper tries to assess the future prospects of democracy in the region. Along with this discussion, the paper has also looked into the role of external powers in the crises.