The Westphalian system

The Westphalian System

The Westphalian system, which was established in 1648, was a peace accord that “marked” the end of the 30 years war, a disastrous conflict in the history of Europe. It was founded on three guiding principles: the states’ sovereignty, their legal equality, and their non-interference in each other’s foreign affairs. The guarantors were to remove any signatory parties from office if they violated the conditions of the agreement (Uţuianu, 2012). Therefore, it can be inferred that the convention represents “conditional sovereignty.

Apprehensions and Conflicts in the Middle East

But Saudi Arabia is apprehensive about the Iranian expansionism, which calls for a response. The Iranians, on the other hand, picture the ISIL and the Sunni supremacist organizations to threaten the wellbeing of the descendants of the Shia community in the whole of the Middle East (Daneshgar, 2013). The argument to ascertain which country fueled such an inferno will continue as long as each political divide hold to their supremacy battles.

Professional Approach and Potential Solutions

The most professional approach is to focus on the outcome of the Iran’s election that will see the election of a new Majlis, as well as a new crop of the assembly of experts, mandated to elect a supreme leader. The new leader will, in turn, choose the heir to signal the beginning of either a new Iran’s political path or a continuation of the constant disputes. Another issue is the determination of who would censor the new settlement which brings in the behaviors of Russia and the US, world’s superpowers (Jun & Wahl, 2010). If, for any reason, they can be made to strike common grounds with regards to the struggle in the Middle East, it will offer goodwill that would help in the reconstruction of the conflicting countries.

A Fresh Balance of Power

Nevertheless, the Middle East of today is different from the petty princely state in the times and tides of the pre-unification of Germany that can be tossed by the big powers. Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt need to be incorporated as full partners to any other peace settlement and commit to a fresh balance of power.

References

Daneshgar, M. (2013). Islam in Global Politics: Conflict and Cross-Civilizational Bridging.

Jun, N. J., & Wahl, S. (Eds.). (2010). New perspectives on anarchism. Rowman & Littlefield.

Ţuţuianu, S. (2012). Towards Global Justice: Sovereignty in an Interdependent World. Springer Science & Business Media.