A Case Study of A War Or Military Conflict Essay

A Case Study of A War Or Military Conflict - Essay Example The Middle East also continues to be characterized by authoritarian regimes that have an uneasy relationship with the West and the culture of modernization that it purportedly represents. Mirjam E. Sorli, Nils Petter Gleditsch, and Havard Strand report in their article â€Å"Why Is There so Much Conflict in the Middle East?† that resource abundance can be as significant a factor in causes of conflict as resource scarcity. They mention that high resource states can witness a slow growth in their economy as compared to resource-poor states1. Research like the rentier state theory has also found that resource-abundant states develop authoritarian power structures2. The Iraq – Kuwait conflict is an interesting case study that can be studied in the light of the concerns stated above. Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, declaring Kuwait to be Iraq's nineteenth province. Andrew T. Parasiliti in an article titled â€Å"The Causes and Timing of Iraq's Wars: A Power Cycle Assessment† states that it was from the 1970s that Iraq started to assert itself in the Middle East. Its power peaked in the 1980s and then fell into a relative decline as compared to S audi Arabia and Kuwait which gained in power. At the time of its decision to invade Kuwait, Parasiliti estimates that Iraq was conscious of her decline as well as her thwarted ambitions for Arab leadership. Parasiliti contends that contrary to perceived opinions about Iraq emerging more powerful after the Iraq – Iran War, the Iraqi regime was conscious of its gradual decline in regional politics. The war against Iran was initiated by Saddam Hussein partly because revolutionary Iran infringed in Iraq's domestic affairs by supporting Islamic and Kurdish groups that opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein.