THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH

AFRICA-MENA
( THE SUDAN CASE)

Hussein Gibreel Musa

 Population Area
Country Population
% of total % of total
Number MENA km 2
MENA
density/km2
The Middle East and North Africa-MENA are
Algeria 41,657,488 7.21% 2,381,740 15.93% 17.49 regions with rich history, traditions, and
Bahrain 1,442,659 0.25% 760 0.01% 1,898.24 geographical, linguistic, ethnic, and cultural
Djibouti 884,017 0.15% 23,200 0.16% 38.10 diversity.
Egypt 103,544,778 17.20% 1,001,450 6.70% 99.27

Palestine 1,836,713 0.32% 360 0.00% 5,101.98

Iran 83,024,745 14.37% 1,648,195 11.02% 50.37

The MENA region had a population of 112 million
Iraq 40,194,216 6.96% 438,317 2.93% 91.70 in 1950. The population is more than 577 million
Israel 8,424,904 1.46% 20,770 0.14% 405.63 today.
Jordan 10,458,413 1.81% 89,342 0.60% 117.06

Kuwait 4,277,304 0.73% 17,818 0.12% 240.06

Geopolitically and geo-economically, the
Lebanon 6,100,075 1.06% 10,400 0.07% 586.55

Libya 6,754,507 1.17% 1,759,540 11.77% 3.84 Middle East is a region of massive world
Mauritania 3,840,429 0.66% 1,030,700 6.89% 3.73 importance as it produces about one-third of the
Morocco 34,314,130 5.94% 446,550 2.99% 76.84 world’s oil supplies and has 60 percent of the
Oman 4,613,241 0.80% 309,550 2.07% 14.90
world’s known petroleum reserves.
Qatar 2,363,569 0.41% 11,586 0.08% 204.00

Saudi Arabia 33,091,113 5.73% 2,149,690 14.38% 15.39

Sudan 43,120,843 7.46% 1,861,484 12.45% 23.16

Syria 19,454,263 3.37% 185,180 1.24% 105.06

Tunisia 11,516,189 1.99% 163,610 1.09% 70.39

Turkey 81,257,239 14.06% 783,562 5.24% 103.70

United Arab Emirates 9,701,315 1.68% 83,600 0.56% 116.04

Yemen 28,667,230 4.96% 527,968 3.53% 54.30

Total 577,845,576 100.00% 14,951,23 100.00% 38.65

2
 8%
consume
 USA China
power MENA power
REGION
The Arab
Spring

Internal External
Factors Factors
Economi USA
c Israel

Iran
Political
Turkey
 43 M
a st Kh
e a
tr h ca rto
No Afri um
 Sudanese regimes from 1956 - 2019

1959 1956 -1958 1958 -1964 1964 1966 -1969 1969 -1985 1985-1986 1986 -1989
Military Military Military
civilian civilian civilian Military civilian

President Omar al-Bashir

1989-2019
 Sudan Economic Overview
Figure 8 Sudan’s import flows (USD), 1994-2020

Sudan import (left) & export (right) partners in 201967

 Ottoman
Empire

USA, RUSSIA, CHINA,

TURKEY
NCP Regime 1989-2019

Sudanese protests (2018–19) deterioratin

g economic
conditions

The war lack of a

continues in Political
the Participatio
provinces n

The spread In addition

of to external
corruption factors,