Knowledge Security of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Concept, Status and Dynamics

Many Muslim countries, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), are facing several problems including internal and external security challenges. Internally, they are facing economic, social, and political challenges. Externally also, they have failed to protect their sovereignty and security interests. The collapse of Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Afghanistan against the foreign invasion shows the gross inability of Muslim countries to defend their borders against invading external forces, especially the western countries. The failure of Saudi Arabia to protect its oil installations against the elementary drone technology also shows the low-level of preparedness or even ill-preparedness of a trillion dollars economy. Many north African countries are going through the phase of political instability. The main cause of these problems is presence of foreign militaries, exploitation of local resources and corrupt politicians. Even countries that are relatively (politically, economically and militarily) stable are prone to instability and collapse in the face of any major crisis e.g., Iraq and Syria. Thus, most of the countries of the region are facing many of these challenges.