German Approach towards the Struggle against Separatism in Fragile States of the Middle East and Africa: the Сases of Iraq and Mali

Abstract

In the modern world the development of armed conflict leads to chaotization of the world order at all its levels.One of the manifestations of this threat is the strengthening of separatism, including the secession as its extreme form. Political practice shows that the secession the factor of long-term undermining of regional security. An alternative to secession is the federalization of the fragile states that is an effective measure for struggle against separatism and the resolution of the armed conflicts based on compromise. The article underlines that in the majority cases the federalization in fragile states could be realized only with active participation of external actors. In this regard the article explores German experience in the support of federalization in Iraq and Mali in the middle – second half of the 2010-s. These two countries are selected as cases of the Near East and Sahel regional systems. The scientific paper focuses on the usage by Germany of political-diplomatic and military tools. The article explores the evolution of the relations of Germany with the guide in Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan) and Bagdad before and after the referendum on the question of Iraqi Kurdistan independence, 2017, September 25. In this regard the author shows the changing of German military assistance as an indicator of FRG`s approach to the Iraqi Kurdistan problem. The paper investigates German approach towards the «Tuaregs` question», the features of usage by Germany of diplomatic and military tools for the federalization of Mali. In the conclusion the author compares FRG`s tactics of the struggle towards the separatism in Iraq and Mali.

Keywords

• germany
• separatism
• secession
• federalization
• iraq
• “kurdish question”
• mali
• “tuaregs` question”