Asian Geopolitics and Economic-Security Approaches

For centuries, the Middle East has served as the crossroads of empires, given its geostrategic location between Europe and Asia. In the twentieth century, the discovery of oil there fueled modern-day rivalries between foreign powers looking to exploit the resource. World War I established British and French dominance in the region, while the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union fueled arms races and conflicts across the Middle East. Following British and French withdrawals and the Soviet Union’s collapse, the United States became the dominant foreign superpower active in the region. But the disastrous occupation of Iraq, the faltering of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, and the dramatic rise in American oil and gas production have reduced the United States’ commitment to the region, creating a vacuum filled by countries like China, Russia, and Turkey.