political conFlictS and Migration in the Mena StateS 187
5.6 Final comments
The MENA countries are currently and will remain in the foreseeable future
(perspective 2025) one of the most conf lict-laden areas on the planet. They
will thus also remain a region from which international and domestic
conf licts will trigger migration and refugee movements. Even if there
are individual MENA countries that, according to the Global Peace Index
(Institute for Economics and Peace 2013), can be seen as stable and peaceful
(e.g., Qatar or the UAE), the majority of the countries in this region will
continue to be threatened by the outbreak of new conf licts, as was shown
in 2011, 2012 and 2013 by the events of the Arab Spring and its repercussions.
Although the role of the US in the development of specif ic centres of
conf lict and threats to peace cannot be denied – take, for example, Iraq
and Afghanistan (Nirumand 2007) – there are many other internal factors,
primarily the situation surrounding the Islamists, that serve as a central
impetus for conf lict. They create a constant migration pressure that is then
increased, in the case of open disputes, by ad hoc migration movements.
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