Hub-Centric Warfare and Networked Regional Orders in the Middle East

What happens to warfare when the international order stops being a hierarchy and starts behaving like a network? This article takes that question to the Middle East, a region where chronic conflict and external intervention have produced a scale‑free, hub‑dominated structure. Using abductive reasoning, the study moves back and forth between network theory and empirical data, computing degree, closeness, and betweenness centrality to map how a handful of actors like Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the Islamic Republic of Iran have become the network's gravitational centers. The findings show that warfare is no longer primarily about large‑scale, time‑limited campaigns; instead, conflicts increasingly revolve around these hubs, whose diplomatic, military, and geographic leverage shapes when and how wars emerge, escalate, and continue. Historical analysis traces the deeper evolution of order, while the centrality metrics and sensitivity testing reveal a structural shift from extensive to intensive power, with hubs serving as both prime targets and indispensable peacemakers. By treating the Middle East as a networked complex adaptive system, the article offers a fresh lens for critical security studies and a sharper picture of how global order and modern warfare now feed into each other.

کلیدواژه ها:

Networked warfare ، complex-chaotic international system ، Network order structure ، The Middle East regional network ، Regional key hubs