The Middle East in the Conditions of Political Polarisation in the Post-War Decade

The author aims to examine the political history of the Middle East region through the prism of the critical periods of the postwar decade. The geopolitical component directly exerted impact on the region of the Middle East. In the changed conditions of the post-war period, the Middle East remained the object of confrontation. While England and France inevitably lost influence, the USSR and the USA showed interest in the Middle East region in the context of opposition of the East and the West when advantage of one was reached directly at the expense of the other. The policy realised in relation to the Middle East for both superpowers was represented by expansion of strategic positions in the Cold War. Thus, the United States sought to minimise Soviet influence in the oil-rich Middle East during the period under study. Standing up for the formation of sovereignty and independence of the Middle Eastern states, the American leadership sought to ensure conditions that gave the countries of the region the opportunity to remain in the Western orbit. In the developed political situation when the USSR acted as the opponent of preservation of colonial board of Great Britain and France, the ruling circles of the Arab countries considered the maintenance of a neutral course in the Cold War the most acceptable. However, the American administration regarded commitment to a neutrality as a manifestation of a pro-Communist orientation. As the US foreign policy strategy was not methodical and settled, it caused, in particular, Syria's closer cooperation with the Soviet Union and thus promoted the expansion of the USSR's influence in the region. The priorities of the Soviet Union were also determined by regional imperatives, based on the potential security threat to its southern borders. And, if the United States proceeded from the global vision of the region, the Soviet position was more based on the regional platform. The analysis of archival materials and research literature allows summarising that the policy of each Middle Eastern state was multi-vector. Therefore, any external influence, as well as the course of internal political processes, became mutually interdependent. The research of political evolution of the Middle Eastern states of the post-war period allows revealing and explaining the regularity of many modern processes happening in the Middle East region.

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