The Causes of the Current Unrest in the Middle East
As we approach the tenth anniversary of the September 11 bombing of the World Trade Center, it is undeniable that the Middle East has undergone tremendous change during that time” and one might expect it should be for the better. After all, Saddam Hussain has been deposed, tried for his crimes against humanity, and executed, and a new Iraqi constitution has gone into effect. Tyrants are going down elsewhere, too: Libya’s Muammar al- Qaddafi now has to contend with a rival government.
Yet it is equally undeniable that the Middle East is still a region in turmoil.I found some more information here. Iraq (together with most other countries in the region) is still rated as “not free” by Freedom House, with a 5 (on a scale from 1 to 7) in political rights and a 6 in and civil liberties, and is not an electoral democracy; nor does it recognize Israel. The latter is, in fact, still the only free, democratic country in the Middle East (unless one counts Turkey, which is a partly free “hybrid regime”).
Why is there still so much chaos in the Middle East? There have been a number of conflicts, each of which has had its own cause. Some have ended, while others continue to the present day. The fratricidal Fatah-Hamas conflict, for instance, started in 2006 shortly after the death of Yassir Arafat and became more intense following Hamas’s victory in the election. The fighting went on four five years, but just recently there has been a reconciliation agreement resulting in a “transitional” government for the Palestinian Authority. Other conflicts have been related to the attempts of the Kurdish minorities in Iraq and Iran to obtain more self- government. The Iran- PJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) is such a conflict; it has involved much guerrilla warfare.