Violent chaos, autocratic order, and democracy
CGTN
What will the 2020s look like for the Middle East? Will its people face disorder and violence as those in countries like Syria, Yemen, and Libya have done, or will it be a more peaceful environment, but one in which political freedoms and choices remain constrained as in the Arab Gulf states?
These are the two paths that leaders like Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE's Mohammed bin Zayed and Mohammed bin Rashid want to portray. And it's an understandable one, given the upheaval that the region has faced over the past decade. Yet, they aren't the only ones that are on offer.
Back in 2010, the U.S. was still the region's hegemonic power. But U.S. former President Barack Obama had been elected two years earlier to bring American troops home from Afghanistan and Iraq. The case of Iraq was particularly egregious: American arrogance had uprooted the Saddam Hussein administration but failed to establish a functioning state or responsive democracy.
