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Post-Decolonization Case Studies: Egypt Israel Iraq Afghanistan

Post-Decolonization Case Studies: Egypt Israel Iraq Afghanistan. Geopolitical Significance of the Middle East: Region’s strategic/economic importance – key source of world’s petroleum; critical location between Europe, Africa, and Asia

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Post-Decolonization Case Studies: Egypt Israel Iraq Afghanistan

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  1. Post-Decolonization Case Studies: Egypt Israel Iraq Afghanistan

  2. Geopolitical Significance of the Middle East: • Region’s strategic/economic importance – key source of world’s petroleum; critical location between Europe, Africa, and Asia • Two thirds of the world’s crude oil is produced in the Middle East • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), founded in 1960

  3. Yet individuals within the region often experienced conflict over the urge to modernize and a desire to adhere to traditional ways of life

  4. Case Study: Egypt • Egypt became an independent republic in 1952 • By 1954, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser had taken control of the government • Nasser encouraged modernization

  5. He was also a proponent of pan-Arabism or unity among Arab states

  6. Pan-Arabism failed, but Nasser was successful in modernizing his country

  7. In 1956, Nasser declared Egyptian ownership of Suez Canal • During the Suez crisis that followed,French, British, and Israeli troops tried to seize canal • However, the USA and USSRwished to avoid a serious armed conflict and backed Nasser’s decision for nationalization of the canal

  8. Nasser also strengthened ties with Soviet Union, at least temporarily • The Soviets helped the Egyptians construct the Aswan Dam, the world’s largest dam • But when Soviet advisors attempted to exert too much control, Nasser expelled them

  9. Nasser died in 1970 and was succeeded by Anwar el-Sadat • Sadat drew Egypt closer to U.S.A., and in 1978, became first Arab leader to recognize state of Israel

  10. Sadat was assassinated by Islamic militants in 1981 • Afterwards, Hosni Mubarak served as Egypt’s president • But during the Arab Spring(2010), Mubarak was deposed • Now, Egyptians wrestle with diverse ideas regarding the future of the government • Some advocate theocracy and others democracy

  11. Case Study: Israel • In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration, publicly stating their intention to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine – whose population, during the late 1910s, was 90 percent Arab

  12. It is also important to remember that Zionism had developed as an important political philosophy • One of Zionism earliest advocates was the journalist, Theodore Herzl • Herzl had witnessed the Dreyfus Affair in France (a case of blatant Anti-Semitism) and believed that Jews would never be safe in a Christian-dominated and Europe

  13. Zionists believed in the necessity of creating a Jewish homeland • Therefore, Zionism is Jewish nationalism

  14. After World War II and horrors of the Holocaust, international sympathy for a Jewish homeland, along with strong U.S. support, led to establishment of state of Israel, in May 1948

  15. But the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948 stirred up Arab outrage and plunged the Middle East into war • Israelis had to fight a war in 1948 simply to keep the state that had been given them • These wars led to the displacement of millions of Palestinian Arabs

  16. In 1964, the Palestinian diaspora gained a semblance of leadership with the formation of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a terrorist group and political movement led by Yasser Arafat • Since then, Palestinians have tried to establish a Palestinian state

  17. In the 1980s, the Palestinian population of Israel staged an uprising called the intifada

  18. Peace efforts continue but issues of land, autonomy, and security make a peace settlement difficult

  19. Case Study: Iraq • Iraq came under the control of Saddam Hussein in 1979 • Hussein was sponsored by the U.S. because of his opposition to Iran in the 1980s • However, in 1990, Hussein order the invasion of the oil-rich state of Kuwait and appeared ready to do same to Saudi Arabia

  20. During the Gulf War (1991), Hussein was forced to accept a 1991 cease-fire agreement, which included abolishing of chemical and biological weapons programs • Hussein’s continued refusal to cooperate with U.N. inspectors in search for weapons of mass destruction led to a USA invasion of Iraq in 2003 • Hussein was captured, tried and executed

  21. Case Study: Afghanistan • Islamic fundamentalism led to the creation of a strictly theocratic government under the Taliban (after the Soviet’s left Afghanistan) • The Taliban was comprised of Afghans trained in religious schools in Pakistan along with former Islamic fighters of the mujahedin (fighters against the Soviet invasion) • The Taliban government was overthrown by the USA after 9/11 although Taliban fighters are still active in Afghanistan today

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