Trade Cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa: Failure Without a Hegemonic Power

This paper deals with specifically with Hegemonic stability theory and how it has affected the states of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This theory asserts that "a relatively open and stable international economic system is most likely to exist when a hegemonic state is willing and able to provide leadership" (Cohn 396). A hegemonic state is one which has the necessary power (economic, political, military), and the will, to create a stable environment through the establishment of a system of principles and rules which reflect its own principles and interests (Mittleman 138). It is important to look at the absence of free trade in the MENA region because the region exhibits many qualities for a potentially successful trade bloc-a common language, cultural background, and states with differing comparative advantages.

In focusing on Hegemonic Stability Theory one can argue that the MENA states have not succeeded in the act of cooperating. This disassociation has prevented these states from forming a long lived free trade agreement, because of the absence of a significant hegemonic power whose goal is to benefit from such an agreement. To approach this hypothesis one must take a look at the history of the region, spanning from the days of the Ottoman Turks to present. There are several different phases of evolution to evaluate: the existence of the Ottoman Empire, the Empire's dissolution and the ensuing chaos, the short lived Middle East Supply Centre, the withdrawal of the west and the creation of the Arab League, and the ensuing mini-regionalism enacted by the region's states as they now attempt to come together on a sub-regional level.