جواد حیران نیا

The COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the hands of authoritarian regimes. Unlike those who have claimed that the outbreak tends to accelerate the movement toward greater geopolitical competition, we argue that the pandemic has necessitated further cooperation between democratic and authoritarian governments, thus enhancing the longevity of the latter. This explains why the global pandemic has caused no fundamental changes in the regional security dynamics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in part because it has ironically prolonged the rule of authoritarian in the region in the name of providing public health. Despite the rhetoric of religious pluralism, moderation, as well as constitutional reforms, sentiments echoing narrow and virulent nationalism and right-wing populism have simultaneously prevailed. On balance, the persistent use of repression in liberalized autocracies in the region has manifested itself in the form of repressing protesters during tough economic times.  For example, in protests against unemployment in Oman in 2018 or against tax reform in Jordan in 2019, and during Saudi Arabia’s 2017-20 Qatif unrest or in Algeria’s ongoing political protests, such patterns of behavior have been visible.  Even in those regimes that have introduced constitutional reforms in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, when priority has been given to combating a global pandemic, a floundering economy, and other emerging threats, such as the campaign against terrorism, authoritarian regimes have wound up consolidating their rule, thus exploiting such crises in order to grab further power at home and seek geopolitical advantage in the region.  However, it is short-sighted to underestimate the possibility of the spontaneous eruption of popular uprisings that could pose a destabilizing threat to authoritarian regimes at some point in the future.

Over time, political-security studies have moved towards a multi-dimensional view of security. Developments caused by globalization and the September 11th incident have also popularized the understanding of security. Therefore, generally, the investigation of political-security challenges is organized and presented in the framework of these theoretical developments. Developments in the Middle East region in recent years have shown that both the issue of security and the reference of security have moved away from its classical interpretation. Where in the traditional approach to security, the goal and reference of security was considered to be state and the issue of security was military, but developments after the Arab Spring have shown that security is no longer a state base, nor is it merely a military issue. The realist approach during the Cold War and after the Cold War (before September 11) with its attention and emphasis and focus on power and security in states relations has been indifferent to many internal threats and challenges of the states. The main reason for the dominance of this approach was the nature of the international system during the Cold War and the interference of great powers in the Middle East region. This article seeks the question of what effects the Arab Spring had on the security order of the Middle East. In response to this question, it can be said that the Arab Spring showed that the narrow interpretation of security, which includes the stability of the state, cannot guarantee the human security, and the political system may endanger the security of the citizens under the pretext of ensuring the state security.The methodology of this research is based on the post-positivist approach. Descriptive-analytical and historical research methods have been used in this research. Information has also been collected through documentary sources, internet and using news bases, relying on objective-historical data.

The existence of various ethnic, linguistic and racial leanings is among the problems in which the Israeli statesmen have long confronted and they have tried to place the society’s demographic and cultural fabric under their control. The authors, in this article, reexamine Israel’s policies towards the Arabs, drawing on statistical data on demographic changes. Furthermore, they reconsider the Israeli policies towards the Arabs and scrutinize the religious minorities’ demographic distribution and political status in Israel. This study demonstrates the reasons why the Arabs within Israel have failed to reach a kind of convergence and what obstacles have existed in this respect.