Introduction: the state of pivot states in south-eastern Mediterranean

The aim of the book is to examine the “state of pivot states” in the south-eastern Mediterranean region after the Arab Spring. Due to historical, geographic, strategic and cultural factors, we consider Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Tunisia as decisive to the fate of this region. Since the Arab Spring, the south-eastern Mediterranean has entered into a period of changing power configurations, and developments prompted by the 2011 mass uprisings influenced both the internal and external stability. Our thesis is that domestic, and especially, regime stability is the main factor accounting for the ‘pivotness’ of a given state and that changes in this dimension influence foreign policy decisions. However, also the international context feeds into the domestic politics in a never-ending process. Thus, internal and external dimensions are in a dialectic relationship. For this reason, the chapters included in this volume analyze political changes and challenges in three key dimensions, namely the domestic, regional and international arenas.