ABSTRACT

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are in disarray, and shifts in the field of energy have the potential to drastically affect the course of political and economic developments in the region. Declining oil prices, skyrocketing domestic demand, the rise of unconventional oil and natural gas production in North America, as well as shifting patterns of global energy trade all put severe pressures on both producing and importing countries in the MENA region. Policy-makers are facing fundamental challenges in light of the duality of grand transformations in (geo)politics and energy. Changes in the field of energy require substantial political and economic reforms, affecting the very fabric of sociopolitical arrangements. At the same time, the MENA region’s geopolitical volatility makes any such reforms extremely risky.

Including contributions by academics and analysts from both inside and outside the MENA region, this volume explores the changes in global and regional energy, the impact of changing international energy dynamics on politics and economies in the MENA region, and the challenges that will result.

This is essential reading for researchers, postgraduates, and professionals in Middle Eastern and North African politics, global energy governance and regionalism.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

chapter 3|16 pages

Global gas and LNG markets

The role for MENA countries

chapter 4|13 pages

Renewable energy

A recent but dynamic trend in the MENA region

chapter 6|13 pages

Oil and resilience

Changing energy dynamics and the smaller Gulf States

chapter 8|19 pages

Struggling with low oil prices

From bad to worse in crisis-torn Iraq?

chapter 9|19 pages

In dire need of a new social contract

Saudi Arabia’s socioeconomic and political challenges

chapter 10|12 pages

The Eastern Mediterranean

An energy region in the making

chapter 11|13 pages

Cyprus

Energy hopes and political troubles

chapter 13|12 pages

Jordan

Overcoming energy insecurity

chapter 14|15 pages

Turkey

In between global trends and regional politics

chapter 15|12 pages

Energy politics in Egypt

A quick fix for economic problems?

chapter 16|15 pages

Algeria

Global challenges, regional threats, and missed opportunities

chapter 18|19 pages

The energy–security nexus in MENA region

Appraising the role of the USA, the EU, Russia, and China