U.S.Military Bases In The Middle East After The End Of The Cold War

The United States initiated its large-scale deployment of overseas military bases in strategic locations around the world since World War Two. During the Cold War, U.S. overseas military bases became the forefront of containing Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States managed to adjust its overseas military bases deployment to cope with the dual challenges from traditional and non-traditional security threats. In the context of the Gulf War and the anti-terrorism wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11 terrorist attack, U.S. military bases in the Middle East underwent constant adjustment which reflects the profound changes in the relationship between the United States and the regional countries. This paper starts with the theoretical analysis of overseas military bases and explains the general laws of the overseas military bases from the macro perspective, including the their definition, types, functions and approaches of accessing to those bases. Combined with the historical background of United States adjusting the military bases in the Middle East after the Cold War, this paper examines the motives of establishing these bases in terms of containment strategy, geopolitics, energy security and anti-terrorism.In order to examine the hypothesis about the deployment of overseas military bases, taking the cases of U.S. military bases in southern Gulf region, northern Gulf region and Turkey, this paper analyzes the features of their deployment in the Middle East and the process of their adjustment. Research indicates that military bases in the Middle East are an important tool to safeguard U.S. overseas interests, as well as the symbol and externalization of U.S. state s will in the Middle East. These bases are of great political symbolic and military deterrence significance and play an important role in U.S. waging the gulf war, and afterwards the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, U.S. military bases in the Middle East are a double-edged sword. On one hand they defend U.S. strategy and security interests, on the other hand they become the focus of the conflict between the U.S. and Islamic world, which forces the U.S. to constantly adjust the bases in the Middle East after the end of the Cold War.