Bliski Wschód – krajobraz po bitwie
The Middle East – a landscape after a battle

Author(s): Wiesław Lizak
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Political Theory, Political Sciences, Civil Society, Governance, International relations/trade, Military policy, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: Middle East; so called Islamic State; conflict in Syria; conflict in Iraq; conflict in Libya; conflict in Yemen; Iranian-Saudi competition
Summary/Abstract: After several years in which the reports from the Middle East were dominated bynews on the fight against the Islamic State, in 2018 there was a significant change.A series of failures of IS in 2016-2017 led to the situation in which the basic questionconcerning the Middle East focussed not so much on the way to overcome theorganization, but rather on the essence of the new international order, shaped asa result of clashing interests of different states and political forces. In Syria, plungedinto civil war since 2011, the scale of victory clearly shifted to the side of the forcesfaithful to President Bashar al-Assad. In Iraq, after a period of cooperation of differentpolitical forces faced with IS expansion, ethnic and confessional divisions revivedagain. At the same time, mechanisms for seeking effective ways to eliminate threatsto the stability of the country have been introduced. Conflicts in Libya and Yemenare still far from settled. Both countries have no governments that can effectivelycontrol the situation in their territories and external actors get involved to furthertheir particular interests. Local conflicts thus become a playing field for competingregional and global powers, hindering stabilization processes.

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