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Middle East: the Political Component (1920–1950s)
Advantageous geopolitical location of the Middle East and the presence of oil resources determined the desire of the Western powers to strengthen the position in a strategically important region in the interwar period. The growing anti-colonial orientation of the national liberation movement in the Middle East is not different ideological homogeneity.
The Second World War was a catalyst that hastened the collapse of the mandate system. However attempts of consolidation of the Arab world were torpedoed by the state nationalism of each certain country. With the formation of Israel the dynamics of relations in the region has become multidirectional.
The USA encouraged formation of regional blocs which would reduce together the anti-communistic and westernized governments as a part of the program for control of the Soviet Union. Foreign policies of the administrations of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy was a united plan to prevent the spread of Soviet infl uence in the Middle East region, maintaining Israel’s security and ensure US access to Arab oil, the priority of which was transformed from the political situation in the region.
The foreign policy concept of the Soviet Union proceeded from denial of the acceptability of colonial board further. The Soviet Union was ready to support States in the Middle East trying to put an end to the hegemony of the Western powers, not giving fundamental importance to their socio-political structure. Moscow tried to determine the correct, not always fully positioned as the pro-Soviet ally in the Middle East. The region remained a sphere of confrontation in the changed circumstances of the postwar period.
The Second World War was a catalyst that hastened the collapse of the mandate system. However attempts of consolidation of the Arab world were torpedoed by the state nationalism of each certain country. With the formation of Israel the dynamics of relations in the region has become multidirectional.
The USA encouraged formation of regional blocs which would reduce together the anti-communistic and westernized governments as a part of the program for control of the Soviet Union. Foreign policies of the administrations of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy was a united plan to prevent the spread of Soviet infl uence in the Middle East region, maintaining Israel’s security and ensure US access to Arab oil, the priority of which was transformed from the political situation in the region.
The foreign policy concept of the Soviet Union proceeded from denial of the acceptability of colonial board further. The Soviet Union was ready to support States in the Middle East trying to put an end to the hegemony of the Western powers, not giving fundamental importance to their socio-political structure. Moscow tried to determine the correct, not always fully positioned as the pro-Soviet ally in the Middle East. The region remained a sphere of confrontation in the changed circumstances of the postwar period.
Middle East, foreign policy, Arab countries, USSR, USA