The domestic sources of regional orders : explaining instability in the Middle East

• Main Author: Mansour, Imad.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 2009
• Subjects: Political stability > Middle East.; International relations.; Middle East > Politics and government > 1945-
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=115631

This dissertation addresses the puzzle as to why some regions in the world are engulfed in militarized disputes among member states, while other regions live under peaceful conditions. It argues that domestic regime-societal management strategies have significant explanatory value to understand variance in regional orders. These domestic factors have largely been ignored in International Relations (IR) literature. A domestic politics-based analytical framework explains how states with inclusionary governing regimes (those which account for the interests of societal actors in policy formulation and consequently give them stakes in the survival of the regime) are more likely to move the regional order towards stability. On the other hand, states with exclusionary regimes (those which do not account for the interests of societal actors in policy formulation and consequently do not give them stakes in the survival of the regime) are more likely to push the regional order toward instability. === The dissertation also addresses a frequently underexposed dimension of IR theory: exactly how do major powers influence regional orders? It argues that major powers penetrate regional states in support of either societal actors or regimes (and sometimes both). In that process major powers help alter the power asymmetries inside regional states affecting their preferences and strategies, and hence their behaviour towards the regional order. === The analytical framework is used to explain variations in Middle East regional orders through four paired comparisons of six states: Israel-Egypt, Israel-Turkey, Israel-Syria, and Iran-Saudi Arabia. The time frame under study is from 1950 to 2000. The change in the Middle East regional order post-1990 did not correspond in magnitude to the change in the international system, adding credibility to this framework which prioritizes domestic level variables in shaping regional orders.