Why Did I Select This Topic? & My Research Process
I first chose my topic because I have always been interested in the Middle East, and more recently the change of the culture and political climate of the region. This change was caused by the Islamic extremist group called ISIS. At first my question revolved around how the Middle East has changed politically and socially, but in my research I realized that ISIS was the root cause for many of the changes in the region. This revelation led me to change my question to focus more on the impact that ISIS, and specifically its demise, has had on the Middle East. When I started my research after refining my question I expected to find that after the fight against ISIS, the Middle East would go into a rebuilding stage. But in reality, the end of the fight against ISIS sparked new and old conflicts between forces that once fought together.
As of now, ISIS has been vanquished and the countries that they inhabited are trying to rebuild infrastructure but are not getting much support. The city of Raqqa has been reduced to rubble and does not have necessities like hospitals or schools. Moreover, the Syrian civil war is still raging and many cities are in chaos. In addition, many of the combatants that fought against ISIS are now fighting each other over old conflicts.