SECURITY EFFECTS AND GEOPOLITICAL TRENDS GENERATED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN THE MIDDLE EAST

In early 2020, the attention of states and international organizations focused on combating the global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). The crisis erupted at a time when the Middle East is characterized by conflict and political unrest. In fact, the pandemic has revealed and, in some cases, exacerbated a number of vulnerabilities in states in this region, especially their national health systems.The identification of the Covid-19 pandemic effects and the geopolitical trends generated in the Middle East is based on the analysis of the evolution of a series of quantitative and qualitative indicators in the context of visibly affecting by this crisis of at least three major areas of security: health, economic and social. Thus, among the indicators to be analysed in the context of the pandemic are some specific ones derived from the manifestation of the crisis and others that appeared in the context of identifying the government’s response capacity to the pandemic crisis.We specify that the results of the present analysis must be considered subject to the reporting by states of incomplete or inaccurate data and in the context of an analysis framework with a limited number of indicators.