The Dominant Regional Trends and the Future of Order in the Middle East

The main purpose of this article is to identify the structural and institutional trends in the Middle East and predict future developments with an emphasis on Kurdish separatism. The main question of the paper is how will the structural trends in the Middle East, especially the Kurdish separatism affect the regional order? Structural and institutional trends are important issues such as the likelihood of some countries breaking down and formation of new countries on the basis of the Kurds, the rise of radical Sunni Islam and probably its decline over the coming years, the increasing likelihood of instability extending to key Middle Eastern powers and actors, especially Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the growing trend of right-wing politics in Israel, declining Middle East Strategic importance for America and finally the importance of the Middle East to European countries. Given these trends and in response to the main question, the hypothesis is as follows: The regional order in the Middle East is on the verge of a serious transitional period as a result of the influx of various actors. Accordingly it is predicted that "In coming years, we will see a different Middle East with a growing focus on nationalism, separatism, the emergence of new countries and their struggles with dominant actors, the continued ideological rivalry of regional powers with increasing chances of crisis to them." The present article intends to discuss this issue in five sections in an analytical way with a future-based approach.