The Changing Structure of the Regional System of International Relations in the MENA Region: The Main Power Shifts

N. Kuliyeva

doi:10.4018/979-8-3693-5688-3.ch016

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The Changing Structure of the Regional System of International Relations in the MENA Region: The Main Power Shifts

Ch. 16. P. 319–330.

Kuliyeva N.

After more than ten years passed since the “Arab Spring”, it can be mentioned as a tipping point both for particular MENA countries and for the regional system of international relations as a whole. As a result, several trends that characterize the development of the regional system after 2010 can be identified. Firstly, a change in the regional power structure in accordance with the redistribution of influence both at the vertical (from global actors to regional) and horizontal (between regional actors, between global actors) level. Secondly, the strengthening of old (between Sunnis and Shiites, etc.) and the formation of new fault lines in the region. Thirdly, the increase in the activity and significance of non-state actors against the backdrop of weakening statehood and the associated complication of the nature and significance of military-political conflicts. These trends determined the logic of regional development, within which the formation of a new model of involvement of global and regional actors as well as new “zones of instability” emerged.

Language: English

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Keywords: MENA Regional System of International Relations

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