At the present stage, the Middle East represents a unique regional subsystem
characterized by a high level of fragmentation, conflict, and the absence of a
stable security architecture. In the context of the formation of a polycentric world order,
strategic balance in the region is maintained not through stable formal alliances and
blocs, but through dynamic cluster configurations formed around and with the participation
of regional and global actors (Russia, the USA, China, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia,
Israel, Egypt, and the UAE).
The article proposes a typology of Middle Eastern clusters based on five key
parameters: strategic vector, type of governance, legitimacy, ideological and value
content, and mobilization model. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of crossinteractions
between clusters, including cooperation, rivalry, and hybrid forms of engagement
with non-state actors. It was found that clusters function not as stable blocs,
but as situational coalitions with a high degree of hybridity, asymmetry, and transnational
reach. Their interaction is often dual in nature: competition is combined with
episodic cooperation, and conflicts are used as a tool for geopolitical positioning. It is
concluded that in the absence of a unified security architecture in the Middle East,
cluster structures become key carriers of regional order, reflecting the strategic priorities
and contradictions of actors in the Middle East.
Middle East, polycentrism, regional security, clusters, proxies, conflicts, regional order, international relations