A Study On The Conflictive Geopolitical Order In The Middle East

Middle East, a polyethnic and multireligious area, which stores up the maximum range of petroleum resources, is surrounded by five oceans and three continents. Frequently suffering from ethnic, religious and national conflicts in history, it has been interfered by great powers in the world since the beginning of the 20th century for its unique geographic advantage, and resource superiority, which increases the complexity of the conflicts among and within the countries interfered. All the countries in the world, either industrialized, influential powers or small, weak countries, pay great concern and interest to the geopolitical pattern, and evolution and transition of the geopolitical order in the region of Middle East, out of the consideration of geographic safety, national development and petroleum energy. Therefore, the study on the conflictive geopolitical order in Middle East is of great theoretical and realistic significance to the security of national energy, geopolitical strategy and the profit of national oil energy in China.Chapter One is an introduction about the origin of the topic, literature view of previous study on this topic in and out of China, research methodology, academic innovation, connotation analysis of the core concepts, and the theoretical framework for the whole study.Chapter Two analyzes the root of the formation of the conflictive geopolitical order in Middle East from five parts, in which part one is about the conflict of power interest order and Middle East interests from the angle of world order and pattern; part two is about the conflict of religious value and secular nationalism; part three is about the conflict of geopolitics and national relations in the Middle East; part four is about the conflict of social structure and multiple identities in the Middle East, and part five is about the conflict of economic interests of great powers and national interests in the Middle East. The conclusion in this chapter is that the conflicts in Middle East appear on five levels, i.e. international level, national level, ethnic level, religious level and economic level, the root of which is essentially the conflict of the power-designed political order and the countries in Middle East.Chapter Three describes from four main aspects the realistic representation of the conflictive geopolitical order in Middle East:pursuit of "hedge balance" by parties in the conflict, ethnic sectarian conflict carried with cultural political conflict in the region, political game between great powers in the context of conflictive geopolitical order in Middle East, and national political game between the countries in Middle East. The conclusion in this chapter is that countries in the Middle East are restrained by the world order of great powers and are under the impact of regional power order at the same time, which means it is impossible for the conflictive geopolitical order in Middle East to ease political conflict under the intervention of great powers.Chapter Four brings forward countermeasures China should take to the conflictive geopolitical order in the Middle East. Suggestions are made from two aspects:first, China should make international coordination and political communication with the countries in the Middle East in order to keep good relationship with them; second, with "the belt and road" strategy, China should develop and progress hand in hand with the countries in the Middle East. The conclusion in this chapter is that China should develop a good-neighbor and cooperative diplomatic relation with the countries in the Middle East. To achieve this goal, China should not only play political game with great powers, but also promote the development strategy of "the belt and road" to benefit the countries in the Middle East in spite of the severe challenge of conflictive political order that China will unavoidably confront in that region.Chapter Five makes concluding remarks. The present study holds that the root of conflictive geopolitical order in the Middle East lies in the direct conflict of the international political and economic order designed by great powers and the appeal of order by the Middle East. The change of international order shows the realistic political game and competing interests that the great powers contest with each other for the dominant right in the Middle East. Power imbalance between countries in the Middle East and the great powers can neither fence with conflict among great powers, nor can it avoid ethnic and religious conflict within each country in that region. Because of the sharp difference between production and storage, the petroleum resources bear important meaning to the economic development for every country in the world, which forms the root inducement for great powers to seek dominant right in politics and oil order in the Middle East. To sum up, the conflictive geopolitical order in the Middle East is not only a geopolitical retaliation resulted from the particularity of geopolitics, but also an embodiment of multi-hierarchy and multiple overlapping in the regional conflict in Middle East.