Introduction to Middle East Politics: Leading Factors, Actors and Dynamics

This study has aimed at increasing familiarity of students with regard to major issues in Middle East politics, and providing a framework that would help to analyze regional politics. In this regard, there are two points to be considered. The first one is the necessity of addressing an issue regarding the region through a synchronic and comparative perspective. The second is the fact that any issue addressed in political analyses is a part of a complicated process shaped by interaction of a number of factors in a specific place and historical context. In this study, firstly main factors that are effective in Middle East politics, such as physical and human geography, economy and history are examined. In the second part, leading actors that play critical roles in regional politics, i.e. states, international organizations and extra-regional powers, and the roles of these actors in Middle East politics are discussed. Lastly, contextual factors that emerge in the Middle East, and regional and global dynamics are addressed briefly. It also addressed the question how does structural factors, actors in the region and regional and global dynamics affect each other.