Borderline Views: Toward a new Middle East

If and when some form of political stability is restored to the Middle East, it is by no means certain that the territorial configurations of Iraq and Syria will return to what they were before the outbreak of the present conflicts. There will have to be some serious thinking and negotiating about the demarcation of the borders of these states, as the geopolitical realities will have undergone changes which could not have been dreamed of just a few years ago.

 

It is simplistic to argue that the borders which existed are the ones which should be reconstituted. The changes which have taken place are too many and too substantial for that to happen automatically.

 

The borders of the region, drawn up initially just under 100 years ago according to the principles of the British-French Sykes-Picot agreements, have finally come crashing down and there is no logical reason that the political entities which emerge out of the present conflict should not be involved in some serious reassessment of the current territorial lines.

 

We assume that any return of political stability will mean the eventual defeat of Islamic State (IS) and the return of political control to the previous local powers.

 

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