Recently the Persian Gulf states and surrounding areas have experienced
wide spread political turmoil and revolution. Egypt deposed their former president, Libya
plunged itself into a NATO backed civil war (not our finest hour but that is a
debate for another time) , and Syria has begun their own violent uprising. The old regimes have begun to fall out and
with “the domino effect” in place; one has to wonder what the future holds.
In the
west we currently lack the popular support necessary for any real means of
intervention and can do little more than hope for a pro Euro-American democracy
to take hold in the new states. Recent
political evolutions in the region do little to firmly support this hope
however, but lead down another path.
The
path I refer to is the newly popular political party of, “The Muslim
Brotherhood”. The Muslim Brotherhood is a political organization created in the
early twentieth century but legally rationalized and recognized in the major
nation states of Egypt and Libya after the 2011 revolutions. In Egypt the party
has taken the majority in the newly formed parliament and is poised for control
over the new Libyan government. With military and popular support it seems
unlikely that the party will have any significant rival in the region but
continue down their current path of success.
As a
westerner it is in our nature to question the outcome of these recent elections
and what this means for our corner of the world. I think however only time will
be able to tell. All religious prejudice aside, the Muslim Brotherhood presents
an interesting conundrum to the western world. The Brotherhood has recently
advanced their political influence and after the 2011 revolutions controlling the
Egyptian government and, poised for victory in both the Syrian conflict and Libyan
elections. Furthermore with a growing influence in the Shia community the
brotherhood continues to become an international player.
Westerners
are uneasy with this change in power however intervention seems both unlikely
and unwise. After the Iraq war the Western world is actively opposed to any
military intervention in the region especially for political purposes.
Furthermore what difference could a western intervention make? The brotherhood
holds a majority of the regions popular support and has grown via this new
system of democratic elections not conquering despotism. The brotherhood has also taken an incredibly political
stance regarding their 21st century views. The organization advocates for democratic
reform and a free press but, there still remains a call for Islamic reformation
and religious profiling.
Should
The Brotherhood continue their road to political domination it is an unclear
and foggy future for the western world.
Would a united Persian Gulf and Islamic region be able to co-exist with
the westernization occurring across the region, and more importantly with West
backed Israel? What does this new trend mean for the 21st century
and global relations?
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