MIDTERM PAPER: MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS(7 Questions) - Essay Example

He says that authorities are not natural or mysterious, rather, it is something that is formed and passed to the people and therefore, it is something that should and must be looked at critically. Another major argument of Edward Said is that, any author that is writing a text has to take position within the text. This is because the relationship between texts and how they are grouped together in the orient materials that an author writes, is what gives them a whole meaning. Orientalism took effect in the Middle East when the French and the British arrived in the region.

During that time, the two empires were the most powerful colonizers and therefore, they are the ones who took over the Middle East region. The major works of Edward Said includes a lot of research on politics, economic theory, history and even poetry (Said, 2003). Oil, which is popularly referred by many as the black gold has a lot of positive impact on any country that discovers it, however, sometimes they prove to be a curse as they may drive a nation into conflicts. Since the discovery of oil in the Middle East region, there have been a lot of developments among these countries, for example, Qatar.

The discovery of oil in the Middle East has come with numerous economic growths in the region because it creates vast job opportunities for the citizens; it acts a very reliable source of government revenues through exports. Profits from the sale of crude or processed oil is has been used by these governments to develop the countries entire infrastructure, for example, roads and other firms. In the long run, countries from these regions have been able to fight poverty with their gaining from oil extraction (Karl, 2007).

These countries have also been able to become more stable politically as they can manage to support their economies independently. They are also able to strengthen their military; therefore, they guarantee their security. This has been one major driving force in their economic growth, since an economy does so well in a secure environment. However, on the other hand, these countries in the Middle East have had their own share of trouble due to the discovery of oil. Some countries, for example, Kuwait, have been destabilized by western countries due to their oil reservoirs.

It also happens that inequality in employment in these regions is rampant due to nepotism and corruption. Discovery of oil in the Middle East has also led to the Dutch disease. This is whereby, the a rise in the exchange rates is experienced and all the attention, for example, labor shifts to the oil industry and therefore other economic sectors within these countries are ignored (Karl, 2007). This will automatically lead to a distorted economy, to a country that relies one product for foreign exchange.

The presence of oil has also encouraged the existence of authoritarian government in the Middle East region. This is because; these countries have the potential to provide for themselves due to the wealth they gain from oil. Their leaders, therefore, become selfish and turn an iron fist on their citizens. A good example is during the reign of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Another negative impact that oil has had in the Middle East is the foreign influence. Selfish powerful nations always do their best to influence the operations of these countries, making them vulnerable, for example, the USA influenced Iraq to attack Kuwait during the gulf war of the 1190s.

There are three phases of democratization in the Middle