Without fully integrating data, cyber, and technology into Middle East relations, the U.S. risks handing regional dominance to its greatest geopolitical foe.
Geo-technology trends to watch in MENA in the 2020s
February 17, 2021 Share
Ongoing conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Yemen are expected to continue to destabilize the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2021. However, technology will likely add another layer of complexity to these conflicts and reshape the region throughout the 2020s. When the Arab Spring began a decade ago, the biggest challenge facing long-standing Arab autocrats was grappling with the power of social media and the rise of online political opposition by tech-savvy millennial activists. In the 2020s, however, regional governments are now facing a new set of emerging technologies that will shape not only domestic politics but also regional geopolitical dynamics. These advancing technologies include: drone, cyber, and space technologies.
In the Middle East, cyber sovereignty hampers economic diversification
January 6, 2021 Share
Rapid and unprecedented transformation in the Middle East, whether political, social, or technological, is forcing governments to reckon with enormous changes. Many governments are responding by attempting to pursue two contradictory paths forward cyber sovereignty and digital transformation and they might end up not achieving either.
Since its start a decade ago, the Arab Spring has changed the Middle East s geopolitics and tech landscape. Regional governments were not ready to deal with the budding, tech-savvy millennials in the streets of Cairo, Benghazi, and Sana a. The Twitter- and Facebook-empowered generation ended the multi-decade-long reigns of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh. The removal of these long-serving autocrats sent shockwaves across the region and made its capitals much more attentive to technology s influen