Overview

The political unrest and violence associated with the Arab Spring continues to dominate the news. Today we consider what are widely-regarded as the three main causes of instability across the Middle East and North Africa – economic problems, migration flows and demographics.

In 'The Economics of the Arab Spring', Adeel Malik and Bassem Awadallah argue that a development model reliant upon remittances, fuel exports and foreign assistance has failed to deliver prosperity and social justice to the majority of the region’s population. In doing so, their article also highlights the inherent tension between the region's demographic and economic structures.

Our second article considers how the massive outflow of migrants fleeing violence in Libya turned into one of the largest migration crises in modern history. This complements our third and final article in which demographer Richard Cincotta explains how a society's age structures influence the likelihood of conflict. This is accompanied by a map outlining the population and demographics of the Middle East and North Africa.