Greater Middle East

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  • Traditional definition of the Middle East in English usage
  • Other areas according to the G8 definition of the Greater Middle East
  • Areas occasionally associated with the Middle East (socio-political links)

    • The designation Greater Middle East (in German also in the English version Greater Middle East ) was used as a political term by the US government under George W. Bush as part of an initiative for the political transformation of a broader region of the Middle East (German: Middle East ) embossed. In its US usage it includes all “ Islamic nations” from North African countries bordering the Mediterranean in the west to Pakistan in the east as a geopolitical large region and includes Turkey and Israel .

    Evaluation as a geopolitical term

    Relative distribution of Christianity (red) and Islam (green)

    According to the official interpretation, the Greater Middle East includes countries that are influenced by their geographical location (from western North Africa to the “Middle East” or “Middle East” to Central and South Asia ) and by the political order or system (e.g. B. Tunisia and Turkey versus Afghanistan or Yemen ) are not connected or do not see each other.

    In contrast, there are commonalities in addition to a common problem from a “Western” perspective (e.g. USA and EU countries) in the form of the Islamism problem and the question of access to strategically important deposits of raw materials .

    Greater Middle East Project

    During the G-8 Sea Island Summit in June 2004, the US government presented its Greater Middle East (GME) project as a political agenda for restructuring the Greater Middle East region. According to the official reading, the project is based on three pillars:

    Critical evaluation

    According to the judgment of the social scientist and political scientist Mohssen Massarrat , in addition to this democratization intention , which serves as a model of legitimation within the Western alliance, as a concept of a civilization project , the US government also pursued hegemonic political goals with great financial and human resources :

    Political background

    After the collapse of the socialist systems and alliances, the USA tried to transform the Islamic states into democratic systems. The search for a “new Middle East,” as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later postulated, had been a key objective of the Bush administration since 2001. Bush's inauguration in January 2001 was followed by the election victory of the new Israeli government under Ariel Sharon , who was the pioneer advocated a long-term aggressive military stance by Israel in the region and for the territorial expansion of the occupied territories bordering Israel. The Bush administration broke off the Clinton administration's peace talks, which were aimed at the establishment of a Palestinian state , with reference to the new Israeli head of state Sharon. According to Cary Frazer, a "strategic axis" was established between the Bush and Sharon administrations that shaped the US search for a reorganization of the Middle East in which the "Anglo-American-Israeli Entente" led by Bush -Government should redefine the Middle East and Persian Gulf. The turning away from Clinton's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was seen by observers as a signal that both the influence of the Arab states and Iran should be kept low.

    The US had justified the Iraq war, among other things, with the morally well-founded view of wanting to introduce “democracy” in Iraq. This declaration of war goals became more important because other reasons for the war, such as the threat of weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's joint responsibility for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, could not be sustained. Bush subsequently declared the overthrow of Saddam Hussein to be a prerequisite for the democratization of the entire Greater Middle East region.

    The original plan to make the reshaping of the greater Middle East a project on the political agenda came from the environment of the Democratic Party . While preparations were being made for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, two former employees of the Clinton administration , Ronald D. Asmus and Kenneth M. Pollack , developed an initial systematic argumentation model for the project in the fall of 2002. Although they nominally called for an extensive principle of self-determination for the states concerned, they also declared that with the help of “a large-scale invasion of Iraq” and “if possible with recourse to NATO ”, “Saddam Hussein and his regime would first have to disappear”. Neoconservative politicians in the USA, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice , tried to win the European governments over to the project. Although at least conservative politicians in Europe confirmed the global common interests and goals with the USA, the Iraq war was rejected in Europe and thus a first step in the development of an independent European Central and Middle East policy . Political goals such as the fight against terrorism and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction had damaged NATO's claim to leadership during the disastrous course of the Iraq war. Despite the political rupture, however, there were still significant similarities between the European states and the USA.

    Since the late autumn of 2003, the US government has officially represented the goal of establishing democracy in the entire Greater Middle East by presenting the Greater Middle East Program. Bush laid the foundation stone for the project with his forward strategy of freedom with a speech on November 6, 2003 to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) foundation , which was held in 1983 under Ronald Reagan as a joint think tank of representatives of both major US parties and primarily was founded for the global struggle against Soviet or Marxist influence. The NED had dealt early on with the problem of cautious democratization in authoritarian , pro-Western states, which until then had been supported as “ anti-communist bulwarks”. The main content of the speech before the NED was to implement the introduction of democracy in the “Islamic” countries through an outside initiative. Despite the officially set goal of democratization, Bush praised a number of autocratically governed countries such as several monarchies on the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia , and the Moroccan Kingdom for alleged progress in democratization.

    The project was officially debated for the first time at the Munich Security Conference on February 7, 2004. As one of the first initiators of the idea, Germany immediately welcomed the US project. Joschka Fischer ( Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen ), as Federal Foreign Minister, had already developed a Greater Middle East draft on the basis of the ongoing Barcelona Process (also Barcelona Initiative , Euro-Mediterranean Partnership , EUROMED), which was agreed in 1995 between the European Union ( EU) and southern and eastern Mediterranean countries had been agreed. Under the title NATO and the Greater Middle East , US Senator Richard Lugar promoted the project, which was formulated more specifically in a working paper published on February 13, 2004 in the Arabic-language daily al-Hayat in London . In midsummer 2004, the project was initially renamed the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), but Bush continued to use the old name. The meeting between Bush and Gerhard Schröder ( SPD ) in the White House on February 27, 2004, at which the US President and the German Chancellor adopted a joint statement on the Greater Middle East project, was viewed by observers as a political reconciliation after a Year of political tensions between the two governments, which arose from the strict German rejection (on the side of France and Russia ) of the US military intervention in Iraq , which is contrary to international law . Fischer's concept for the Greater Middle East contained the possibility of a diplomatic significance for Germany corresponding to its economic power, starting from the Middle East , whereby Iran , which was not defined in any alliance, was selected as a “jumping stepping stone”.

    In his State of the Union address of February 2, 2005, Bush explicitly referred in a lengthy passage to the Greater Middle East Project, which had sparked discussions in 2003 due to the difficulties of the US occupation policy in Iraq. As “friends” for the implementation, he again named several regimes that neither enjoyed a reputation as representatives of democracy nor democratization, such as the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, which is based on divine will, or the Moroccan monarchy. With their vision of "eliminating tyrants and bringing freedom and democracy to the farthest corners of the world", Bush and his Secretary of State Rice created a new approach to establish a contemporary framework for US foreign and hegemonic policy and in alliance with the European partners to switch from the "moral defensive" to a moral offensive again at the beginning of 2005. During the Lebanon War of 2006 , the US Secretary of State spoke of the “birth pangs” of a “new Middle East”, which the US should continue to strive for under all circumstances, also in view of the high number of civilian deaths. Muriel Asseburg, head of the Middle East and Africa research group at the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP), described this remark by Rice as a cynical and inhumane comparison and a one-sided statement by the US Secretary of State that would lead to conflict management and conflict resolution international community. She herself came to the conclusion that Germany and the other European countries had joined the USA in the Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative (BMENA initiative) in summer 2004, because they had set the goals of modernization and reforms towards a more representative, transparent and more efficient government in the region. But there were significant differences between Germany (and Europeans in general) on the one hand and the USA on the other, which affect the approach in the region. In particular, the Europeans rejected regime change by military means and the US approach known as “constructive deconstruction”, such as the sudden regime change imposed from outside for the purpose of democratizing states and a new regional order.

    Effects

    In 2008, the French political scientist Olivier Roy summarized the “philosophy of the greater Middle East”, which in his opinion can be traced back to the liberal ideas of John Locke :

    • The basis of a democratic society is not the state , but entrepreneurially minded citizens who act in a market economy framework. They appear as individuals , detached from client relationships and tribal and ethnic ties.
    • Religion is not determined by social affiliation, but is practiced as a personal belief.
    • The state should not control the development or construct it politically, but rather act as a retrospective regulatory instrument that is subject to constant control by the citizens. Its accountability is primarily a result of citizens' tax payments.

    With the failure of the US Iraq strategy in 2006, the - according to Roy - “enthusiasm for democratization” of the US government subsided. However, the philosophy behind the neoconservative vision developed into the dominant teaching of large organizations such as the United Nations , the European Union and the World Bank . It has penetrated the programs of major international institutions since the mid-1990s, in the case of the World Bank in particular since James David Wolfensohn took office in 1995 , followed by Paul Wolfowitz in 2005 . The doctrine based on the three pillars of civil society, privatization and good governance influenced the “concept of civil society as a society outside the state, or rather as opposed to the state”. Also dependent on their donors, non-governmental organizations took over or took over - with simultaneous opposing positions such as in questions of the market economy or privatization - a number of concepts of the large development agencies in their criticism of globalization, such as distrust of the existing states, a strengthening of civil societies , the expansion of Micro-projects , the emphasis on the women's question or the pedagogical argumentation of the humanitarian approaches.

    According to Roy, the doctrine was developed less by think tanks in the 1990s than by foundations such as the Ford Foundation or Carnegie, which were often financially supported by the US State Department. The State Department also initiated major research programs, such as the Civil Society in the Middle East book series published by Augustus Richard Norton . The studies aimed to find out the factors that can initiate independent democratization processes that are consistent with the values ​​of American democracy. To implement the program, the Ford Foundation set up a center in Cairo with the support of the Ibn Khaldun Center , led by the Egyptian sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim .

    Democratization developed into a market, the money of which is provided in particular by the US and EU governments and in which non-governmental organizations have specialized by adopting the doctrine of the philosophy of civil society. The Greater Middle East thus created its own internal market in the countries concerned.

    Quotes

    “In this spirit, we commit our nations to an ambitious goal, rooted in our shared values ​​and experience: to promote freedom, democracy, human dignity, the rule of law, economic opportunity, and security in the Greater Middle East. Fear and resentment must be replaced with freedom and hope. We must build a genuine partnership, connecting Europe and America with the wider Middle East, aimed at cooperating with the countries and peoples of that region to achieve these just objectives, and to live side by side in peace. Together with our friends and allies in Europe and the Greater Middle East, we will coordinate our efforts closely to respond to calls for reform in the region, and to develop specific proposals to put before the G8, US-EU, and NATO Summit meetings, which will be held in June 2004. "

    “In this spirit, we commit our peoples to an ambitious goal that is rooted in our shared values ​​and experience: the promotion of peace, democracy, human dignity, the rule of law, economic opportunities and security in the Near and Middle East [or: Greater Middle East East]. Fear and resentment must be replaced with freedom and hope. We have to build a real partnership that connects Europe and America with the Near and Middle East [or: Greater Middle East] in the broader sense, so that we can work together with the states and peoples of this region to achieve these just goals and peacefully side by side to live. Together with our friends and allies in Europe and the Middle East, we will closely coordinate our efforts to respond to calls for reform in the region and to work out concrete proposals that will lead to the summits of the G8, EU-US and NATO in June 2004 should be submitted. "

    - Joint statement by US President George W. Bush and Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, February 27, 2004

    “To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to fight the common threat of terror, while we encourage a higher standard of freedom. Hopeful reform is already taking hold in an arc from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain. The government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the region by expanding the role of its people in determining their future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East. "

    “To promote peace and stability in the Greater Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to combat the common threat of terror while we enforce a higher standard of freedom. Hopeful reforms are already at work in an arc that stretches from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain. The Saudi government can demonstrate its leadership in the region by increasing the role of its people in determining their future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt that showed the way to peace in the Middle East can now show the way to democracy in the Middle East. "

    - George W. Bush, President of the United States, Feb.2, 2005, State of the Union Address

    “What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing, the birth pangs of a new Middle East and whatever we do we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old one. "

    “What we are seeing here [ 2006 Lebanon War ] is, in a sense, the beginning, this is the birth pangs of a new Middle East, and whatever we do, we have to be sure that we are moving towards this new Middle East and not that return old. "

    - Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State, July 21, 2006

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ a b c d e Concocting a 'Greater Middle East' brew ( Memento from August 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). Asia Times Online, March 4, 2004, by Safa Haeri, archived from the original .
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Origin and aim of the "Greater Middle East" program ( memento from August 19, 2013 on WebCite ) , Telepolis, February 4, 2005, by Bernard Schmid , archived from the original .
    3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Mohssen Massarrat, Democratization of the Greater Middle East ( memento of August 19, 2013 on WebCite ) , November 2, 2005, archived from the original ( memento of the original of April 17, 2013 on the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: ' (PDF), From Politics and Contemporary History (APuZ) 45/2005 (November 7, 2005), archived from the original (PDF; 4.5 MB) on August 19, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bpb.de
    4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Olivier Roy: The false war - Islamists, terrorists and the errors of the West , Pantheon 2010 (Siedler, Munich 2008), ISBN 978-3-570-55115-8 , ISBN 978-3 -641-04757-3 .
    5. ^ A b c d Cary Frazer: The Middle East and the Persian Gulf as the gateway to imperial crisis - The Bush Administration in Iraq. In: David Ryan, Patrick Kiely (eds.): America and Iraq - Policy-Making, Intervention and Regional Politics , Routledge, 2009, ISBN 978-0-415-46621-9 , pp. 200f.
    6. ↑ a b Diary: Rice's Mid-East mission ( Memento from October 5, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). BBC News, July 26, 2006 by Jonathan Beale, archived from the original .
    7. ↑ a b Remarks by President George W. Bush at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy - United States Chamber of Commerce, Washington, DC ( Memento of 19 August 2013 Webcite ) (English). National Endowment for Democracy, Nov 6, 2003, archived from the original .
    8. ↑ a b President Bush Discusses Freedom in Iraq and Middle East - Remarks by the President at the 20th Anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy - United States Chamber of Commerce - Washington, DC ( Memento of 19 August 2013 Webcite ) (English) . The White House, President George W. Bush, press release November 6, 2003, archived from the original .
    9. ↑ All about the Munich Security Conference 2004 - A small chronicle of events and a compilation of opinions ( memento from August 20, 2013 on WebCite ) , AG Friedensforschung, undated, archived from the original .
    10. ^ The US-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MIPE) ( Memento from August 19, 2013 on WebCite ), homepage, archived from the original .
    11. ↑ a b Special Briefing on Travel to the Middle East and Europe , US Department of State, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Washington DC, July 21, 2006, accessed October 5, 2013.
    12. ↑ Muriel Asseburg: UN Resolution 1701, UNIFIL-2 and the “New Greater Middle East Project” - A German Perspective ( Memento from October 5, 2013 on WebCite ) (English; PDF), In: The Cultural Movement - Antelias / Friedrich- Ebert Foundation, "UN Resolution 1701: Horizons and Challenges (National Conference, held January 13th, 2007)", Lebanon, March 2007, pp. 69–74, archived from the original (PDF; 29 kB) on October 5, 2013.
    13. ^ The German-American Alliance for the 21st Century Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder ( Memento from August 20, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). The White House - President George W. Bush, press release, Feb. 27, 2004, archived from the original .
    14. ↑ The German-American Alliance for the 21st Century - Joint Declaration by President George W. Bush and Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ( Memento from August 20, 2013 on WebCite ), AG Friedensforschung, undated, archived from the original .
    15. ^ Text of President Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address ( Memento from August 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). The Washington Post, February 2, 2005, archived from the original .
    16. ↑ "Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror" - Full transcript of President Bush's State of the Union address ( Memento from August 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). WG Peace Research, undated, archived from the original .
    17. ↑ "Iran is the main sponsor of terror in the world today" - US President George W. Bush: "On the State of the Union" - the speech in full ( memento from August 19, 2013 on WebCite ) , WG Friedensforschung, undated , archived from the original .

    Remarks

    1. ↑ a b The word pair Middle East / Middle East is a wrong friend . While in German usage India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Iran to the " Middle East ", but Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt and the historical context and Turkey to the Middle East are counted, the region begins "Middle East" ( Middle East ) in the English definition to the west and thus also includes the Arab region with Syria Lebanon, Israel and Palestine. Source: Questions to the onion fish: Where does the Middle East begin? ( Memento from October 6, 2013 on WebCite ) , Spiegel Online, August 12, 2005, by Bastian Sick, archived from the original .