connerye

I believe that the growth of Iranian influence following the United States invasion of Iraq was the most important outcome of the United States’ 2003 invasion of Iraq. Before the United States invaded Iraq, Iran, and Iraq had engaged in a decades-long struggle for influence in the region. This fight for influence remained constant throughout the Baathist regime, the Iranian Revolution, and other major ideological shifts in the leadership of both states. The fight for influence between Iran and Iraq characterized regional politics from the 1950s until the United State’s invasion. This was evident in the Iran-Iraq war, the fomentation of Kurdish violence by Iran, and tensions over the Shatt Al-Arab. 

Following the United States’ movement into Iraq in 2003 the Baathist Party was overthrown. The United State’s removal of the once-powerful Baathist party severely weakened Iraq and led to a power vacuum. This power vacuum came because the United States wanted to remove all of the Baath party’s influence in this country. Now there were no leaders, soldiers, or teachers, and neighboring Iran recognized this (Calculli, 232). 

The Influence of the Baathist Party is Removed

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Why it’s different in Basra

Iran for decades had fought to push influence into Iraq as demonstrated by Ruhollah Khomeini’s calls to export Islam and funding of the Kurds to undermine the Arab Iraqi government (Ismael, 19, 22). Iran had now finally won this long fight to undermine Iraqi influence in the region. Iran would soon begin pushing Iranian influence in the writing of the new Iraqi constitution, the military, and the new Iraqi government (Nader, 6), (Litvak, Landau, Kames, 42-45). Iran did this not only to push their ideals into Iraq but to also begin to push regional influence.

The growth of Iranian influence is important because today Iran is one of the most powerful states in the region. Iran’s oil and nuclear capabilities have been major questions in the region. These questions greatly shift the politics of other states in the region as well as foreign states policies towards the region such as the United States. This comes due to the realist need to counter the growing influence of Iran. 

Iran without the threat of Iraq on its border has been able to engage in various measures to grow its influence. As previously stated this has been evident in their engagement in nuclear proliferation. As a result of this nuclear proliferation, regional tensions are made worse as states fear the development of nuclear weapons. This further strains diplomatic relations in the region as well as between Iran and other countries in the international system. I believe that if Iran was still tasked with focusing on Iraq it would not have had the time and resources necessary to continue to develop expensive nuclear weapons.

Iran Pushes its Influence into Iraq

Persepolis: The War between Two Nations: Iran vs Iraq! Round 1: the Road to War (albeenohongkong.blogspot.com)

Iran has also tried to build influence in the region through funding proxies in countries like Yemen and Syria. As a result of this funding of proxies, Iran has been able to push Iranian goals and influence in other states in the region (Litvak, Landau, Kames, 46). Furthermore, this fighting and use of proxies has led to greater conflict and stalemates in countries like Syria. This conflict leads to issues such as human rights concerns and refugee problems. These problems also contribute to diplomatic tensions and intermestic issues which prevent collaboration in the region (Ismail, Coutts, Rayes, Roborgh, Abbara, Orcutt, Fouad, 4). As stated in other blog posts, cooperation among states in the region is needed to address a variety of issues. 

Finally, Iran has pushed influence by fighting terror in the region. To grow Iranian influence Iran has proclaimed itself the protector of the region. Iran has used air strikes to fight terrorist organizations. Iran has stated that this action demonstrates that they are doing much more for the region than other influential states like Turkey and Saudi Arabia (Nader, 16). Overall while fighting terrorism leads to regional stability, this rhetoric continues the cold conflict for power and influence in the Middle East. This cold conflict comes through the use of proxies between Iran and other states to push their influence and grow prestige within the region. This cold conflict prevents collaboration among states needed to address concerns which may potentially impact the future of the Middle East.

Calculli, Marina. 2019. “Middle East Security: The Politics of Violence after the 2003 Iraq War” 

In International Relations of the Middle East, 5th ed., edited by Louise Fawcett, 226-244. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ismael, Tareq Y. 1982. Iraq and Iran : Roots of Conflict. First edition. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse 

University Press.

Ismail, Sharif A, Adam P Coutts, Diana Rayes, Sophie Roborgh, Aula Abbara, Miriam Orcutt, Fouad M Fouad. 2018. “Informal Health Work in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings.” Refugees, Healthcare and Crises: Informal Syrian Health Workers in Lebanon. International Institute for Environment and Development. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16510.7.

Nader, Alireza. 2015. “Iranʹs Role in Iraq: Room for U.S.-Iran Cooperation?” RAND 

Corporation, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep02425.

Throughout the course, we have discussed how the Middle East and North Africa are exceptional. One example of this is the interconnectedness of the region. This interconnectedness allows for domestic issues in one country to leak over the borders of another. 

Take for example Syria. Syria’s civil war partially came about due to conflicts during the Arab Spring (Sadiki, 346). The Arab Spring was a regional phenomenon where a variety of populations within states created instability. This instability came due to domestic dissent towards the policies of the oppressive and ineffective regimes that ruled these states (Sadiki, 340). As a result, Syria has had a long and violent civil war which has forced the displacement of many people. This has led Syrian refugees to move into countries like Lebanon (Ismail, Coutts, Rayes, Roborgh, Abbara, Orcutt, Fouad, 4). 

As stated in the Lebanon group’s podcast, Lebanon already was unable to provide for its citizen’s basic needs. The presence of refugees adds to these challenges. Now Lebanon has to provide for a greater population when it could not provide for its citizens to begin with. This example illustrates how one event in the region can trigger a chain reaction. 

This makes international issues and domestic issues overlap. As a result, intermestic problems like the Syrian refugee crisis emerge. These intermestic issues are much tougher to address because they require partnerships among states to find solutions to these problems. This partnership is often unlikely in the region (Ismail, Coutts, Rayes, Roborgh, Abbara, Orcutt, Fouad, 4). 

A Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon.

All three of the states whose podcasts I listened to suffer from government corruption. These states include Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. This corruption prevents cooperation because often these oppressive and corrupt leaders are solely focused on consolidating and protecting their power. This leads these countries to be less answerable to international concerns and domestic concerns as regime security trumps all these other issues. As a result, the partnership is often unsuccessful. 

Another interaction of domestic and international factors within the global south comes as a result of oil politics. As previously stated, the majority of governments in the region are corrupt and authoritarian. As a result, they are unanswerable to their people. Oil allows for this corruption. Oil allows a steady flow of income for these regimes. These regimes use this income to increase their wealth and to repress and silence political opponents and dissent (Luciani, 120-121). Furthermore, oil production and use leads to issues like climate change and pollution. This leads to domestic problems like the destruction of arable farming land, undrinkable water, and extreme temperatures which further forces population displacement (Cable, 156). 

These oil-producing states are unlikely to address long-term problems like climate change and resource scarcity. Rather these states use short-term solutions to these challenges such as importing food and clean water. These states can do this due to their oil wealth (Luciani, 119).  

Oil reliance is harming the Middle East in multiple ways.

Lastly, oil often promotes conflict. As stated in the Iraq podcast, oil partially led to the invasion by Iraq of Kuwait. This conflict led to greater issues of instability. Conflict also leads to displacement of populations, greater resource scarcity, and the destruction of infrastructure and environments. Furthermore, oil conflict creates a divide between states as states often engage in war over resources (Fisher, Huberlee, 28). This illustrates the interconnectedness of domestic and international problems that emerge due to the presence of oil in the region.

Overall, the interconnectedness of the Middle East and North Africa allows for many challenges to not apply to one state, but rather the region as a whole. As a result, regional cooperation is needed to address these issues. Unfortunately, there is a lack of cooperation in the region which hinders the ability of states to address international and domestic issues in the region.

References

Cable, Sherry. 2012. “Global Environmental Problems: Overpopulation, Peak Oil, and Climate Change.” In Sustainable Failures: Environmental Policy and Democracy in a Petro-Dependent World, 150–61. Temple University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt14bsv4c.13.

Fisher, Franklin M. & Annette Huber-Lee. 2006. “Economics, Water Management, and Conflict Resolution in the Middle East and Beyond” Environment 48 (3): 26-41

Ismail, Sharif A, Adam P Coutts, Diana Rayes, Sophie Roborgh, Aula Abbara, Miriam Orcutt, Fouad M Fouad. 2018. “Informal Health Work in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings.” Refugees, Healthcare and Crises: Informal Syrian Health Workers in Lebanon. International Institute for Environment and Development. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16510.7.

Luciani, Giacomo. 2019. “Oil and Political Economy in the International Relations of the Middle East” In International Relations of the Middle East, 5th ed., edited by Louise Fawcett, 107-130. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sadiki, Larbi. 2019. “The Arab Spring: The ‘People’ in International Relations” In International Relations of the Middle East, 5th ed., edited by Louise Fawcett, 339-367. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Link to Syria, Lebanon and Iraq Podcasts: SP-INST-277.01.202420/SP-POSC-277.01.202420/SP-MEST-266.01.202420: Group Project Assignments (dickinson.edu)

Image links:

Lebanon insists ‘the problem of Syrian refugee must be solved’ – Famagusta Gazette (famagusta-gazette.com)

https://cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/oil-war-middle-east