What does the future hold for the Middle East?
The Middle East is facing a number of challenges that will affect its future. This region is one in which almost all the regimes are authoritarian. Everywhere there is a certain yearning for a more open system, one in which people can express themselves more freely, participate in political life, read press that is free, listen to media that they can trust, and build a civil society in which they participate in the political life of their community. Middle Easterners are sophisticated in terms of their political savvy. They read, they listen to news, they talk about politics, but they often fear that it is too dangerous for them to get involved in the affairs of their own countries. Another challenge is to provide for the social and economic needs of the population. In particular, the region needs to address its integration into the larger global economy, and in fact, the weakness of its own internal trade. Middle Easterners trade relatively little with each other. They trade more with
