Shahed University Journal of Political Socology of Islamic World 2980-9371 8 16 2020 03 20 Regional Megatrends and the prospect of development in the Middle East Regional Megatrends and the prospect of development in the Middle East 105 130 1208 10.22070/iws.2020.4019.1718 FA Hojjat Kazemi Department of political science, Faculty of law and political science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Maryam Nezami Department of Regional Studies, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran Journal Article 2018 12 27 The present article aims to provide a perspective of future development in the Middle East based on current trends in the region. According to Trend Analysis Method in future studies, providing a prospect for a country, a region or the whole world depends on Identification and analysis of the megatrends at every level. The megatrends consist of structural transformations that have huge consequences. Based on this approach, the this paper identifies five megatrends in the Middle East since 2003: 1. Intensification of regional conflicts, 2. The Crises of nation-state structure and the formation of fragile States and failed states, 3. Exacerbation of environmental crises, 4. The decline of the Middle East’s position in terms of global energy demand, 5. Drainage of human and material capital and the crisis of accumulation. The present paper is not only going to describe each trend, but it will also demonstrate that these critical trends are intertwined and mutually intensify each other. Consequently, they will be worsened in the upcoming years. The paper concludes that according to these megatrends, it is expected that the development prospect for most countries of the region will be dark. The present article aims to provide a perspective of future development in the Middle East based on current trends in the region. According to Trend Analysis Method in future studies, providing a prospect for a country, a region or the whole world depends on Identification and analysis of the megatrends at every level. The megatrends consist of structural transformations that have huge consequences. Based on this approach, the this paper identifies five megatrends in the Middle East since 2003: 1. Intensification of regional conflicts, 2. The Crises of nation-state structure and the formation of fragile States and failed states, 3. Exacerbation of environmental crises, 4. The decline of the Middle East’s position in terms of global energy demand, 5. Drainage of human and material capital and the crisis of accumulation. The present paper is not only going to describe each trend, but it will also demonstrate that these critical trends are intertwined and mutually intensify each other. Consequently, they will be worsened in the upcoming years. The paper concludes that according to these megatrends, it is expected that the development prospect for most countries of the region will be dark. https://iws.shahed.ac.ir/article_1208_5d7968e61ad6991f448c073fcc2dee8c.pdf