Detailed Information on Publication Record

The post-WWII Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been a theatre of stiff competition between newly established nation-states, dubbed by Kerr as the ‘Arab Cold War’ between the 1950s and 70s, and the two superpowers the US and USSR. As both powers have their clients in the region. Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the next round of regional competition started re-shaping regional relations. It is frequently asserted that the MENA entered into yet another dynamic phase of the ‘New Regional Cold War’ in the post-2003 marked once again by increased regional power competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia and their respective allies. While the sectarian Shia-Sunni dimension of this stand-off is not the primary driver, it is undoubtedly a mobilizing factor. A string of Arab revolutions triggered the newest phase of the MENA Cold War since 2011. Followed by instability which prompted both MENA countries and external players to scramble for increasing or maintaining their influence. Santini notes that it effectively makes the MENA regional security complex increasingly heterarchical with “(...) multiple and heterogeneous power centres, different power rankings, a more visible and relevant role of non-state and transnational actors, and the fragmentation of regional norms.