Study Resources. It's a Eurocentric name for us, which is why it's wrong. The Middle East (1940s- ) was a British military zone during the Second World War set up to defend the Suez Canal and the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf.It was the region "east" of Europe and in the "middle" between Europe and India. Why is the term so commonly used? This term stands for Middle East and North Africa. You will emerge with a stronger foundation in international relations theory and appreciate how different The Middle East and North Africa are two regions that are often grouped together because they have many things in common. The term Arab world is still problematic and needs to be further unpacked towards a pluralist direction that makes the Arab identity more elastic and widens the net to new conceptions as it once did in 2011, and even better a century before. . A culturally, politically, and historically diverse area, the Middle East has been quite an enigmatic region for scholars to study. The concept of democracy in the Middle East has been a topic of discussion which has plagued academics for decades. scholarship, and for the purposes of this class, the term "Middle East" refers collectively to the Asian countries of Bahrain, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the African country of Egypt. SIR ARCHIBALD MAPSALOT III: Oh, ghastly place, never been there, don't want to. The number of extra-regional challenges and disunity among and within its constituent states, as well as a plethora of intra-regional challenges from violent non-state actors, cast doubts about the efficacy of Middle Eastern international society in delivering a tenable regional order. You should call people by what (they) call themselves, not how they are situated in relation to yourself.". However, if you know someone's ethnicity, refer to them as . It usually includes the Arab countries from Egypt east to the Persian Gulf, plus Israel and Iran. Why is there still a refugee problem from the Israel/Palestine conflict in 1948? Gordon used the term "Middle East" in reference to Persia and Afghanistan two years before Mahan in an article entitled "The Problems of the Middle East" published in the journal, The Nineteenth . Newport RI: Short-term rentals in residential areas could be banned. There is resentment in . "The term 'the Middle East' has evoked anxieties and questions for over a century. Yet the fact remains that no one knows where the Middle East is, although many claim to know. It also, however, is the result of a wide variety of long-term pressures growing out of poor governance, corruption, economic failures, demographic pressures and other forces within the civil sector. The term "Middle East" came into common use in the early . Besides Oil, what are 2 other big resources that the Middle East has? But it is done and generally accepted, even if it isnt really an accurate term for other places. In the context of the cold war, the Middle East has rapidly emerged as a primary center of concern for American foreign policy. Explain where the term the "Middle East" comes from and discuss why the UN-designated term South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) is preferred. Despite its Eurocentrism, even people in the Middle East now use . The Middle East is a large and diverse geographical area located in southwest Asia and northeast Africa. So . MENA is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Is the idea of the "Middle East" simply a geopolitical construct conceived by the West to serve particular strategic and economic interests-or can we identify geographical, historical, cultural, and political patterns to indicate some sort of internal coherence to this label? Download the Report The Middle East has long been one of the most unstable regions in the world, and there are no present prospects for change in the near future. The Middle East Proper is also known as _____ the Greater Middle East . Answer (1 of 9): Is it really "colonial?" Natives - scholars, politicians included - refer to the region as MENA: Middle East and North Africa. There is resentment in . Scholars and governments have produced reasoned definitions that are in hopeless disagreement. General. At its most obtuse, Middle East connotes everything from Morocco to Afghanistan, spanning a melange of sub-regions stretching from North Africa to Central Asia. Best Answer. The Middle East is a transcontinental region in Afro-Eurasia which generally includes Western Asia (except for Transcaucasia), all of Egypt (mostly in North Africa), and Turkey (partly in Southeast Europe). It is still in a state of flux in which power politics and . Sometimes the Middle East includes North Africa as well. His suggestion continues to receive a great deal of support and many academics. By 1943 it was more common than "Near East", the older term for the region.. Start studying Geography of the Middle East: Introduction. Since there had been no common term for the region previously, the term was quickly adopted, became commonplace, and was never questioned. According to Clayton Koppes, British General T.E. and more informed perspective on where the region called the "Middle East" has fit into the dynamics of contemporary international relations and why the term "Middle East" is problematic when considering these dynamics. Islam is the dominant religion in the area and almost everyone speaks Arabic. India's first prime minister, . But North African countries from Egypt westwards have little relevance to Asia, even though they are mostly Arab-populated. American interests in the region are threatened by a host of adversaries from a resurgent Russia, a hegemonic Iranian desire and campaign of subversion, and Jihadi threat that has morphed from Al Qaeda to the Islamic State. Those conquests spread Arabs from the Atlantic to India. Who came up with the term "Middle East" an American, Alfred T. Mahan. . It also, however, is the result of a wide variety of long-term pressures growing out of poor governance, corruption . Answer. The Southwest Asia/Gulf Program at the Henry L. Stimson Center was so-named to convey the geography we intended to cover (Iran, Iraq, the Arabian peninsula and adjacent areas as needed), to avoid the association of the term "Middle East" with the Arab-Israeli conflict, which was not our research focus, and to sidestep the tricky Persian Gulf vs. Arabian Gulf problem. Scorched Earth: The Problematic Environmental History That Defines the Middle East 9. Get your free copy here. "Middle East" is problematic because it is, undeniably, a Western term reflecting a Western perspective. During this essay I will be addressing the first two issues. The number of extra-regional challenges and disunity among and within its constituent states, as well as a plethora of intra-regional challenges from violent non-state actors, cast doubts about the efficacy of Middle Eastern international society in delivering a tenable regional order. Some of the area's largest cities include Riyadh, Cairo, and Istanbul. Scorched earth : the problematic environmental history that defines the Middle East / Diana K. Davis; American global economic policy and the civic order in the Middle East / James L. Gelvin; The Middle East through the lens of critical geopolitics : globalization, terrorism, and the Iraq War / Waleed Hazbun; Conclusion : There is a Middle East! actually not, just two and half years before Mahan use of the term Middle East, an article by General T. E. Gordon, entitled 'The Problem of the Middle East'. Really, it's just a geographical designation. The Western idea of a nation state, which itself only fully developed in the partial vacuum left by the a weakened Christian Church, has been imported into the Middle East . As can be seen in the history of the term, the British began using the "Middle East" in official documents, which led many other countries to adopt the name as well. The Middle East Through the Lens of Critical Geopolitics: Globalization, Terrorism, and the Iraq War Conclusion: There Is a Middle East! Problems in the Middle East are generally caused because of tensions over US involvement, Israel and Palestine, and terrorist/freedom fighters. The Near East included the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans, while the Middle East ranged between the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia—quite a small region compared with what we consider . The region has utmost importance in the world history and has introduced the world with Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Ethnicity, Language . The Middle East and Africa Middle East The term 'Middle East' will be used to refer to Western Asia and the Arab countries. The term Middle East refers to the region that is made of parts of western Asia and northern Africa. In my view, it is tied together by this concept: The Middle East is where perhaps the world's most complex war is raging, and Middle Eastern countries are those that are involved in this war, one way or another. It extends over 2,000 miles from the Black Sea in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south, and about 1,000 miles from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the mountains of Iran. This problem has been solved! It's only the East if you're from somewhere else. . It is still in a state of flux in which power politics and . See the answer See the answer See the answer done loading. Some very ancient civilizations existed in this region and it has been always a foremost centre of . John Haldon State, Army and Society in Byzantium Approaches to Military, Social and Administrative History, 6th-12th Centuries VARIORUM 1995 VIII VIII SYNONE Synone: re-considering a problematic and in the present contribution I would like to re-examine the term synone, which has a technical significance in late Roman term of middle Byzantine fiscal and Byzantine texts. Geographically, the Middle East can be thought of as Western Asia with the addition of Egypt (which is the non-Maghreb region of Northern Africa) and with the exclusion of the Caucasus.The Middle East was the first to experience a Neolithic Revolution (c. the 10th millennium BCE), as well as the first to enter the Bronze Age (c. 3300-1200 BC) and Iron Age (c. 1200-500 BC). And Istanbul definitions that are in hopeless disagreement: Short-term rentals in residential areas could be banned large! Done loading definitions that are in hopeless disagreement addressing the first two.! 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