North Africa and Southwest Asia: Review and Self-Test

1. Environment: The population of this predominantly dry region is growing faster than is access to cultivable land and water for agriculture and other human uses. Many countries here are dependent on imported food, and because global food prices are unstable, the region often has food insecurity. Climate change could reduce food output both locally and globally and make water, already a scarce commodity, a source of conflict. New technologies offer solutions to water scarcity but are expensive and unsustainable.

2. Globalization and Development: The vast fossil fuel resources of a few countries in this region have transformed economic development and driven globalization. In these countries, economies have become powerfully linked to global flows of money, resources, and people. Politics have also become globalized, with Europe and the United States strongly influencing many governments.

3. Power and Politics: Despite the presence of elected bodies of government, authoritarian power structures prevail throughout North Africa and Southwest Asia. Beginning with the Arab Spring of 2010, waves of protest swept the region, resulting in the overthrow of several authoritarian governments. Within the region, official responses to the Arab Spring have included both repression and reform.

4. Urbanization: Two patterns of urbanization have emerged in the region, both tied to the global economy. In the oil-rich countries, the development of spectacular new luxury-oriented urban areas is based on global flows of money, credit, goods, and skilled people. In the oil-poor countries, cities are old and have little capacity to handle the masses of poor, rural migrants attracted by the promise of jobs. In these older, poorer cities, jobs are often scarce and many people live in overcrowded slums with few services.

5. Population and Gender: This region has the second-highest population growth rate in the world, after that of sub-Saharan Africa. Part of the reason for this is that women are generally poorly educated and tend not to work outside the home. Childbearing thus remains crucial to a woman’s status, a situation that encourages large families. The role and social standing of women in the region is one of the issues being addressed by current political movements.