An Analysis of Bernard Lewis’s Historical Notion of the New Middle East

Bernard Lewis was a contemporary Orientalist and a theorist in the field of history of Islam. He has authored many books and articles on this subject. Studying the history of Islam, he concludes that the unity of the Islamic society must be destroyed and the great countries of the Middle East must be divided into smaller countries that have less power and serve the interests of the West. This has become known as the New Middle East theory among researchers. In this study, all of Lewis’s written and oral works are analyzed. The results of this research show that he intends to create a balance of power between the countries and even between Islam, Judaism and Christianity by adopting two strategies: Westernization and disintegration of the Middle East based on the accepted characteristics of Westerners such as patriotism and democracy. In this regard, he proposes that Western countries, especially the United States, should try to overthrow and reduce the influence of domestic and foreign hegemonies in the region, including Russia, Iran, and Iraq. He initially proposed this theory using historiographical methods, but towards the end of his life encouraged Western countries to wage war and create chaos in the region and to confront the Islamic society.