Understanding the Middle East

Running head: UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST
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UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST
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UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST1
Introduction
The Middle East, in terms of geographical understanding, implies a collective set of
intercontinental or transcontinental states which are inclusive of the Western region of Asia,
coupled with Egypt and Turkey in entirety. The terms ‘the Middle East’ have also been
associated with nations situated across the Central region of Asia as well those located to the
North of Africa, namely, the Pakistan, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan,
Maghreb, Djibouti and Somalia (Fawcett, 2016). However such seemingly clear and specific
national borders, I believe the terms ‘the Middle East’ are contentious, controversial and non-
inclusive in nature largely due to the fact that historical and political relationships across
global strongholds as well as research, have largely ignored the nuanced, fluid and diverse
cultural and linguistic borders of this region. This paper, thus aims to provide a brief yet
detailed discussion my personal understanding of this highly diverse region and the need for
nations to adopt a constructivist approach when dealing with the nations of this area.
Discussion
Currently, after reading the given learning materials I believe that the Middle East
region is viewed by the world with a ‘Realist’ perspective. ‘Realism’ implies the practice of
viewing a phenomenon in highly simplistic and truthful terms (Juneau et al., 2019). One of
the key readings which demonstrate such a perception of the Middle East and specifically
drew my attention and interest towards developing the urge to better understand the Middle
East is the research by Culcasi (2010) which highlights some of the prominent, misguided
perceptions the world has concerning this region. Indeed, whenever one thinks of the Middle
East, globally adverse issues like terrorism and regional strife emerge. Such perceptions have
emerged largely as a result of incidents like 9/11 following which, Western countries like the
United States, via widespread media channels have continued to project this region as a threat