Political Situation in the Middle East - Coursework Example

Political Situation in the Middle East The political situation in Middle East is determined by the developing distrust between the citizens and the power holders. This is because the citizens are no longer believing that the present regimes are acting or representing the interests of the people. The public is no longer having any respect for the government activities in various places. The public is willing to settle and listen to promises of various economic packages and reform measures. There is rapidly growing challenge between the younger generation, which represents the majority of the entire population and the ruling parties (Bowen & Early 162). The waves of the political protests, which started in Tunisia, have reached many countries stretching from Morocco to Gulf. All the present governments in the region are facing various challenges to their rule. Different countries are having individual differences, which have been made worse by the protests. The waves of protests are taking inspirations from one another, which leads to widespread campaigns seeking widespread change, greater government accountability, and better economic opportunities. There are many characteristics, which define the protest throughout the Middle East. One of the characteristics is the rapidly growing distrust between the citizens and the power-holders. The citizens are no longer believing that the current governments are acting to meet or fulfill the interests of the people. The public has the respect from the government processes. This has made the public not to accept the empty promises made to them about various promises. The most affected people are a younger generation who are representing the majority of all population. These groups of young generations are no longer patient anymore as they are not believing on the piecemeal reforms from within will not save the situation. The younger generation views the reform promises as efforts and tricks used by the power-holders to buy time and to postpone the inevitable. The younger generations have tried their level best by using the media instruments within their reach effectively. This is through transmission of information, engaging the outside world, building strong local networks, and organizing themselves in their plight. The political protests have been termed that they originate from the poor people in the society and that the powerful political interests organize them. The current political protests and movement has a broad and widespread base of support from the whole society. The Middle East has been caught in a vicious cycle. The government is strongly resisting restructuring of governance and implementation of change. On the other hand, resistance by the government has stimulated the demand by protestors on rapid and actual radical reforms. As the government is not able to deliver, the demands by the people increase leading to dangerous situations. This is because the government will rush to offer any change due to increased demands without considering what happens next. The continued complexity posed by various regimes is a certain fault in which they consider instability unthinkable until it arrives at the doorsteps (Schlumberger, 64). The current leadership has made all the transformation processes difficulty. This is because they have left no foundation where alternatives can be chosen. For example, there is no country that someone can speak of a vibrant and strong civil society or truly developed institution of governance, which can provide the required basis for step-by-step power transfer. The protesters are left in a dilemma where they are unable to decide whether to overthrow the government for peaceful and gradual transition processes or negotiate for possible or better reform measures. If a change is brought in the Middle East, the major question is what will come next. Many problems affect Arab societies, but there is no quick fixes or solution. When the government is changed, it does not mean that it will obey the principles of transparency and accountability or provide for guarantee job opportunity. Instead, the citizens or the public will have to struggle for them to earn a living. The incoming government will have to incur many costs on damages caused as a result of protests. The costs will include; higher expenditures due to security operations, lack of confidence to recover, loss of productivity, decline foreign direct investment, oil price and currency fluctuations, and increased market volatility in terms of stock. More than 4 million were put in jeopardy as a result of disturbances in only Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, Egypt and Algeria. This is due to the barrels of the daily exports to other countries. Traditional powers like United States and Europe played an external role in this political situation of the Middle East. The two have not been able to stay comfortable watching the situation worsening. This is because they want to adjust their policies as the protests are progressing. The two countries started slowly by following the patterns of the protests spreading all over the Middle East. Europe and United States came in slowly with the name of being friends of the regimes to the extent that they heightened their voices concern on the rising instability and violence. This shift disappointed the current leaderships in the region with complaints and suggestions that the western powers acted like friends to the regimes yet they had hidden agendas (Akkari 193). This political unrest in the Middle East, has affected the economic, social, and religious situations. This is because the protests will affect the economic development in the countries. This is because the residents will not be in a position to settle and tackle their day-to-day activities. They are only involved in protests and demonstrations, which will have little positive impacts in their lives. In the course of demonstrations and protests, much destruction is caused in the countries affected by the protests. After the demonstrations, the affected countries will incur many expenses to repair or bring back to normal anything that was damaged. This will have affected the economy at large because the funds and resources used to repair and save the situation would have been used in other developments, in the respective countries. The younger generations who are the major representatives of the population will run away to other countries where they would utilize the skills they acquired in their studies. This will be a great challenge to Middle East because the youths whom they would have been productive for the country will migrate to other countries. Middle East countries will seek for professionals in various fields as informational technology, education, and even medicine. During protests and demonstrations, the daily activities in the urban areas will be disrupted or even paralyzed completely. This will have affected the small-scale retailers who earn their living by selling small items in the markets. These people will have to seek assistance from the organizations offering relief food. It will have been another burden to the government as many people will be jobless leading to poor standards of living in the Middle East countries. Due to government reluctance in the implementation of its duties and responsibilities, security will be a threat to both the residents and visitors. The visitors will feel insecure and they will not be free to tour these countries (Albrecht 108). Due to poor standards of living, the countries will start borrowing from the western countries. This will affect them most as they will be charged higher interest rates when repaying the borrowed loans. The western countries will enjoy this, as they will be benefiting on natural resources like oil from the Middle East. They might even decide to offer loans such that they will repay using the mineral resources. The western countries will make sure that the countries in the Middle East do not improve in their economic activities such that they will continue to enjoy the resources cheaply. Use of dangerous weapons is another challenge, in the Middle East. This is because most of the countries are possessing dangerous weapons, which they can use to fight each other whenever there is disagreement between the countries. Some of the weapons are destructive to the extent that when used it will affect all living organisms and plants. This means that it will have affected the whole environment. These dangerous weapons have made the Middle East countries be targeted by the western countries. This is because they are a threat to the western countries in terms of security. Countries like Iran have crude weapons like nuclear, detonated bombs, grenades, and many others. The western countries are fighting to disarm these countries such that they can control everything in the Middle East. That is why Iran is targeted especially by United States (Akkari 99). They want to disarm such they will not be having any threat from Iran. Infrastructure is another problem affecting development in the Middle East. This is because the modes of transport are affected by frequent protests and demonstrations in the country. This will make the movement of products and people from one place to another to be difficult. This discourages the investors from coming to invest in the country leading to poor economic development. When there is political wrangles in the country it will be difficult to import or export products. This will force the country affected to depend on what they can produce and the surplus will not be sold to other countries. This is because the fighting, protests, and demonstrations are unpredictable, which make the investors fear the loss of their businesses. Security is what is making many investors uncomfortable when doing their business in the country. This is because they can lose their business items and at the same time their lives. When there is unstable or unpredictable security in the country, the investors will feel insecure and they will not risk investing. This is because anytime anything can happen and the investors can lose their businesses. Social activity is another part, which has been affected in the Middle East. This is because learning institutions, hospitals, and even playgrounds are affected by the frequent and unpredictable protests and demonstrations. When there is a protest or demonstration in a country, both the tutors and students will not attend classes as the fear that they might be harmed by the angry mobs. This will affect the learning programs, as the lost time cannot be recovered when the classes resume. Learning will not be stable because the protests can be frequent where the schools will be forced to break frequently. In addition, the tutors might be forced to resign and migrate to other countries because they can be attacked when rendering the services to students. A strategy should be formulated in the Middle East such that the countries can get a stable government where they can deliver their services to the public. For the protests and demonstrations to end, strong constitutions should be passed in the Middle East countries. This will enable the country to elect qualified and competent leaders who will be in a position to deliver the promises they make to the public (Bowen & Early 276). Unlike in the past, where the leadership management made empty promises to appease the public without accomplishing the promises. This will make the public trust their government together with the leaders. After a strong government has been put in place, security will be the next task. Qualified security officers should be recruited and trained to gain competence enough for them to serve the public without fear. When the security is tight all over the country, the investors will be willing and free to invest in the country. This will bring back to normal the economic development of the country. Infrastructure should be improved, as the investors will need good transport and communication for easier movement from one place to another. Education is another crucial sector, which should be implemented quickly. This is because, through education system, future professionals will be produced. These are the future generations who will be in charge of the countries. Health care should be also improved. This is through the employment of qualified nurses and doctors with recognized licenses to deliver their duties. Professionals should be sourced from outside the country to come and train more qualified practitioners on the respective countries (Schlumberger 132). The employees should be remunerated well such that they can deliver their services to their level best. In addition, they should be recognized for the best tasks they accomplished such that they are motivated to work harder. When all these are put in place employment will come automatically. This is because, through education system, many people will be employed. When investors come to the country, they require many professionals in various fields to assist them. The youth will be absorbed to various positions. In addition, the youths will be busy and they will not get time to organize demonstrations. This is because they will be satisfied as there will be no empty promises to appease them. . References Albrecht, Holger, "“Waiting for Godot”: regime change without democratization in the Middle East." International Political Science Review 25.4 (2004): 371-392. Bowen, Donna Lee, and Evelyn A. Early, eds. Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East. Indiana University Press, 2002. Akkari, Abdeljalil. "Education in the Middle East and North Africa: The Current Situation and Future Challenges." International Education Journal 5.2 (2004): 144-153. Schlumberger, Oliver. "The Arab Middle East and the question of democratization: Some critical remarks." Democratization 7.4 (2000): 104-132. Read More