ABOUT CALIPHATE AND GEOPOLITICS IN MODERN ARAB-ISLAMIC REGION

The large-scale destabilization caused by the so-called "Arab Spring" served as a trigger of another realignment of the spheres of influence within the geopolitical space of the Greater Middle East. The analysis conducted by the authors shows that the main competitors in the struggle for dominance in the Arab-Islamic world are Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran that in order to fulfill their regional ambitions, in addition to the economic and information tools, actively employ ideology building a trans-regional network of defense centers ("caliphates"). The authors concluded that the process of constructing such networks determines and will continue to determine the parameters of interaction-confrontation among the regional players, and the intensity of confrontation in the region will only increase in the coming years.