| Description | The Middle East has been plagued for more than a century by a series of national, ethnic and religious conflicts, reflecting shifting regional alliances and the unresolved legacy of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the end of colonial rule. The security of this region will always remain a focus of those concerned with energy security for as long as it remains the location of the world's largest known reserves of oil and gas. This unit examines the causes and manifestation of conflict and insecurity in the Middle East today by starting with a theoretical framework for examining the process of state-formation in the region followed by an analysis of specific intra and inter-state conflicts with a view of considering, at the end of the semester, the probability of the region becoming more secure in the foreseeable future. |
