The Middle East System and African Perceptions of Israel

Abstract

In our strategic view of the world and even the methods and theory we use in the study of international politics, we have come to accept the idea that the world is divided into “regions,” and perhaps some regions have come to assume strategic importance to other great powers than others. These “regions” are seen as “subordinate types” or “regional subsystems.” Central to the notion is the recognition by some analysts that different types of systems have specific implications for regional stability, change and order in the international system. ¹ In this view the important question has been the relation of the regional system to the international system. ² The Middle East system like any other system, is an ordered system. The states are interrelated so that change at one point in the system affects other points. For example, the effects of the Israeli intervention in Lebanon since 1982, the takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by Islamic fundamentalists, and the Iran-Iraq War have been felt all over. “In time, the forces generated by these events assumed a life of their own and they are not easily traced to the specific instances that spawned them.” ³