When addressing the politics of the Middle East, it is important to refer to the history of the region because much of the root cause conflicts that we witness today lie back to its history. In fact, one century ago, the Middle East looked nothing like today; it was entirely different. European powers have redrawn the map of the Middle East after World War II shaping the Middle East that we see today. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire joined forces with the Germans and Austro-Hungarian. Britain on its part wanted to align with Arabs to fight Germany; some Arab states were persuaded to join the British as they were promised to be given their independence after the war. The Arabs, however, were not aware of the Sykes-Picot Agreement that British and French had secretly made. Through this agreement, Britain and France decided to divide up the Middle East between themselves into areas of direct or indirect control. In 1920, Britain and France divided the Ottoman Arab provinces along the lines of the Sykes-Picot Agreement with borders drawn up entirely by these colonial powers.
Not only Arabs’ hope for a nation-state was hastened, so was the hopes of some minority groups such as the Kurds who were also promised an independent state by the Allies in 1920. The areas of Kurdish settlement were nevertheless divided among Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, accprdomg to resources.
The Middle East is home to various civilizations and urban cultures. Three of the world's major religions originated in the region — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Universities existed in MENA long before they did in Europe.
Today, the rapid population growth of the Middle East aggravates the challenges that this region faces as it enters the third millennium. For hundreds of years, the population of the region was around 30 million; early in the 20th century, the population growth however reached 60 million. Only in the second half of 20th century did population growth in the region gain momentum. The total population increased from around 100 million in 1950 to around 380 million in 2000. During this period the population of the MENA region increased 3.7 times, more than any other major world region, according to resources.
