(MME) Modern Middle East Governance Lesson
Modern Middle East Governance
When you consider the many different ethnic and religious groups living in the Middle East and how the boundaries of the nations were formed, it is no wonder that the Middle East has experienced a great deal of strife in the last century. The fifteen nations that share the region have had to develop governments that could deal with both internal and external pressures. As we have mentioned, some governments have been more successful than others. The cost of governments not handling these issues well has often been violent and highly destructive conflicts.
Finally, human-environmental interaction can be seen all around us. How does your being in a location affect the environment? When houses, shops, and roads are constructed, it changes the environment. How does Georgia influence the environment in the South? Does our use of water change the water available to other states? What impact does the United States have on the global environment? If we pollute the air, does it impact Canada or countries as far away as New Zealand? These big themes: Culture, Governance, and Human Environmental Interaction can be observed on both a small personal level and a large global one.
What is a Government System?
Every country has a government that is set up in its own distinct way. One thing that a country has to decide on is how to organize its government and distribute power.
Three Main Ways
There are 3 main ways governments spread their power:
- Unitary: Power is held by one central authority.
- Confederation: Voluntary association of independent states that often only delegate a few powers to the central authority. It secures some common purpose.
- Federal: (This is what you are most familiar with the United States). Power is divided between one central and several regional authorities.
Organizational Structure
Almost all of the nations in the Middle East use a unitary form of government. This means that one central government rules the entire nation. However, there are different types of unitary governments.
Although each individual nation within the Middle East has a unitary form of government, there is an example of a confederation there as well. In 1960, five nations outside of Europe and North America formed an organization to coordinate their policies on oil production- four of those nations were located in the Middle East. Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia joined the South American nation of Venezuela to form the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Commonly known as OPEC, this organization formed a confederation whereby each member has equal power and responsibilities in creating policies that each nation will follow with regards to the amounts and distributions of the oil they produce.
What is Citizen Participation?
Different forms of government allow citizens to participate differently, from little to no participation in some forms to citizens controlling large amounts of power in others.
Three Main Types
There are 3 main types of governments (based on who rules and how citizens participate):
- Autocracy: The leader has not been elected and uses force to control all aspects of social and economic life, often through military force; citizens (people) have few (if any) rights.
- Oligarchy: A government in which a few people such as a dominant clan or clique have power. The group gets its power from either military, wealth, or social status.
- Democracy: In a democracy, the government is “Ruled by the people.” The government gets its power to govern from the people, usually through voting.
| Democracy | Monarchy | Dictatorship | Theocracy | Communism | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaders take power | Elected | Passed Down | Take over by force or are elected | Religious leaders are approved | By force or election of the party |
| People's Freedoms | Many | Vary | Few | Few | Few |
| Economic Control | Little government control | Vary | Control by Government | Control by Government | Control by Government |
| A country with this government | Israel (A true Republic) | Saudi Arabia | Iraq (was), Sudan, North Korea | Iran, Afghanistan under the Taliban | Cuba |
Governance Challenge
Take Away
As you see, there are both commonalities among the governments within the Middle East and drastic differences. Often when discussing the Middle East, people lump the region into one large topic as if the individual regions do not have unique characteristics. As you hopefully observed through the slide show, each country in the region has different variations; yet they are all unitary. It is important to recognize and understand the differences and unique characteristics between the countries in the region as it aids in understanding modern conflicts.
IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS