The Military balance in the Middle East of Power after the cold War (1991-2016)

This thesis tries to analyze through which parameters the Middle East military balance had changed after the Cold War. This study is theoretically based on the security complex theory while including the balance of power and the military balance concepts into the puzzle. For providing insights about the inquiry of understanding the Middle East security complex, five countries that have the potential to directly affect the military balance are selected from the region. This group that includes Egypt, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are throughly analyzed to understand the changes occured in the post Cold War era. In this direction, the military characteristic of these states are considered seperately in two different time periods as 1991-2003 and 2003-2016. The main endavour is to reveal the developments and the transformations occured in this group of states' defense industries-exports, armies etc. which are the most powerful of the region. Additional to this, the military structures of these states are examined within connections to the defense inventories of the armies. To understand how secure these states feel individually, defense prioritization and security postures are also analyzed. This thesis is regarded to be contribution to the Turkish literature since it is an inquiry of understanding the security structure while being written right in the times of crisis and turmoil.