SOME FEATURES OF A NEW TYPE OF REGIONAL <I>EMPIRE</I>
Historically the Middle Eastern and North African region with its geopolitical and natural resources has been quite important for the main powersintheworldpoliticalsystem.Inthedifferent periods of history the counties of the region saw active involvement of European colonialists, the Russian state and the US which tried to realize their own interests. Today their participation to a certain extent remains and is transforming to become multilevel and of various formats, with regard to the globalization processes the North African and Middle Eastern countries are a part of. Besides, we may notice new actors getting involved in the region. Particularly, it is possible to talk about China's increasing participation with its growing energy demand. Apart from that, a major redistribution of spheres of influence is taking place among the Gulf Monarchies, Turkey and Iran (with the latter two still being a part of the predominantly Arab region) that may be considered traditional actors in regional processes. Their complex policies lay the basis of the new forms of leadership and regional governance. It is vital to consider the regional system of the Middle East and North Africa (Middle Eastern system), not just the region of Middle East and North Africa, for there is a number of exterior and interior factors. Having once again demonstrated that there is a certain entity and the region is still vital for major actors in the world politics, the Arab Spring has triggered a new stage of redistribution of spheres of influence among regional powers, namely Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Qatar.