The Strait of Hormuz and the Geography of Energy Security
A narrow waterway carries a fifth of the world’s oil. Why the threat to close it has been made so often — and carried out so rarely.
MENA Analysis
Independent analysis of the Middle East, geopolitics and international affairs.
MENA Analysis publishes long-form analysis and commentary on the politics, history and political economy of the Middle East and North Africa — from the Maghreb to the Gulf, and from the Ottoman past to the geopolitics of today. The aim is simple: careful argument, clear sources and writing that explains rather than shouts.
- Geopolitics
- History
- Political Economy
- International Relations
Featured Analysis
Oil, Rent and Authority: Revisiting Rentier State Theory in the Gulf
For half a century, the idea of the ‘rentier state’ has explained why oil wealth sustains authoritarian rule. How well does it still hold as Gulf governments tax, diversify and reinvent the social contract?
Latest Articles
Ninety Years of Montreux: Turkey, the Straits and the Balance of the Black Sea
A 1936 convention still governs one of the world’s most strategic waterways. How Montreux turns geography into diplomatic leverage for Ankara.
3 min read
Upstream, Downstream: The Politics of Water in the Tigris–Euphrates Basin
Turkey, Syria and Iraq share two great rivers but no comprehensive agreement on how to divide them. Why hydro-politics in Mesopotamia is about power as much as scarcity.
4 min read
Suez 1956: The Crisis That Redrew the Balance of Power
In ten days, a war over a canal ended Britain and France’s claims to dominate the Middle East — and revealed who really held power in the post-war order.
4 min read
Reading the Region: A Note on Method
What this publication tries to do, and how: structure before headlines, history before prediction, and local actors before grand narratives.
2 min read
