Oil, Islam and Authoritarianism Critical Review Paper - Essay Example

Kathleen Collins shows in her report how the current state of affairs has come about by reviewing some of the history behind not only the Afghan and Iraqi nations, but how Russia’s (formerly the U.S.S.R.) former domination and its subsequent downfall has shaped how we operate with the Middle Eastern nations. Starting with Russia and its five republics of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, we can see the changes that occurred when the U.S.S. R. lost power and its domination over much of its territories.

While it was thought that Democracy might perhaps take a front place to the new government establishments, there was a turn instead for the majority to a renewal of authoritarianism and a strong Islamic clan influence through clans. Only Kyrgyzstan seemed able to move to a Democratic structure, especially through 1991 to 1995. However, by 2000, democracy was only a former shadow of itself and would finally revert back to a government of authoritarianism. What remained throughout was the clan structure in many of these countries and this would be something of a thorn in the government’s side because loyalties and subsequent benefits of sticking together, sometimes clashed with what the government had in mind in terms of governance of the people (Collins, 2009).

We can see these same issues in the Islamic countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and others in the area who also happen to have a handle on the oil supply of the world. It is difficult to work effectively with countries when there are so many factions with different ideas, mainly because they are made up of clans. That, combined with the Islamic religion, has created many problems and wars, large and small. Brzezinski, in his book, The Grand Chessboard, does not address the clans so much as Collins does, yet he makes many of the same observations she does in terms of the authoritarianism of Middle Eastern nations and the effect of Russia’s loss of dominance over Eurasia and its own republics.

In the midst of perceived chaos and lack of government stability for many nations in the Middle East after Russia’s downfall, what we see most often now is the surge of Islamic solidarity. We are seeing this in Egypt’s effort to build a new government right now. The Islamic Brotherhood has gained a majority in power, and while Western nations had originally thought Democracy would take hold, just the opposite has happened. Collins’ observations are relatively accurate but as we can also realize, events happen very quickly these days and while she looks at the hope that Afghanistan will settle down and find a certain peace, even today we are witnessing disturbance and chaos erupting once more, this time against the Americans and the West (Collins, 2009).

Most events in the Middle East today, are shaped mainly by two factors, which work hand in hand to affect what happens everywhere else. Oil is one of the main prizes and the nations, who are the biggest producers, are also Islamic. All but one percent of crude oil is based in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The breakdown, as of the year 2000, is: Saudi Arabia with 26 percent, Iraq with 10 percent, Kuwait with 9 percent, UAE with 7 percent, and Iran with 6 percent.

Russia and Venezuela have 6 percent, Mexico has 5 percent and the United States only has 2 percent (Salter, et al. 2000).