突尼斯青年“自焚事件”在中东地区产生了明显的“蝴蝶效应”，由此而引发的政治动荡仍在持续，它是中东国家社会矛盾及政治合法性危机的反映。中东国家政治动荡是由内、外诸因素促成的，其中，内因是决定性的力量，外因起着推波助澜的作用。中东国家社会结构变化以及社会转型时期贫富分化加剧、民生问题尖锐、教派纷争严峻、权威统治僵化、腐败程度严重，这些是导致中东政治动荡的基本原因；新兴媒体的影响以及外来势力干预则加速了中东政治动荡。中东政治动荡的形成是自下而上的民众自发抗议运动的结果，兼有改善民生、推进民主等特点，青年在其中起着主导作用。中东政治动荡，其结果不仅引发了一些国家政治变局，也改变着中东地区力量格局，对国际体系产生了重要影响。中东政治动荡的出现标志着该地区步入了一个史无前例的历史嬗变时期。与此同时，处于巨变中的中东国家，其“向东看”的趋势依然明显。
The young people’s “self-burning” in Tunisia has led to the “butterfly effects” in the Middle East.The political turmoil caused by “self-burning” are still continuing，which is the reflection of the crisis of political legitimacy in Middle East.The political turmoil is the combination of internal causes and external causes.Internal causes are decisive while external causes are playing a role of adding fuel to the fire.There are many factors for the turmoil，including the social structure change，the problem of people’s livelihood，denomination conflicts，concentration of power and grave corruption.In the same time，the impact of new media and foreign intervenes are adding fuel to the political turmoil.Lots of political turmoil in the Middle East countries are from the bottom to top，in which the youth is the main forces.In the long run，the democratic process in the Middle East has a trend of to be accelerated and will lead to the change of power structure in this region，which is the sign of entering a new evolution and transformation era.Meanwhile，the tendency of strategic measures of “Looking East” in the Middle East countries will still be apparent in the future.
| Keywords： | ImpactMiddle EastPoliticsCausesTurmoil |
