In a new GRC Gulf Paper, Shahram Chubin looks at the widespread changes occurring in the Middle East from the Levant to the Gulf which reveal a region in the midst of a comprehensive upheaval. The author argues that while the region is in an unprecedentedly fluid state, neither the length of the transition nor the outcome of the current transformation is predictable. A principal theme of the paper is the degree to which regional politics have been the product of local dynamics and forces and the marginal impact of outside powers, even in the Cold War and the decade of unipolarity following it.
