Why lack of economic integration between Middle East and North Africa (MENA):With Pan-Arabism and the establishment of the Arab League in 1945, some form of economic bond between the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) should have been established and ultimately sustained. Due to a variety of factors, however, this unfortunately has not come to fruition. (1) Low levels of economic and political development, (2) ethnic divisions, (3) strong divisions between branches of Islam, and (4) a lack of security in the region have each individually (and quite severely) deteriorated the promising economic integration intended by the aforementioned missions (Lynch, 2010, p. 205). The lack of economic integration isnt speculative either. Empirical analysis shows that Arab trade with the rest of the world is low and remains below foreign trade of countries with similar levels of development and per capita income (Romagnoli, 2008).In general, protectionism and a lack of liberalization within the regions economies have also been a primary blame for the lack of economic integration in MENA. Their regional economies also fail to assist one another to be optimally effective. The underdeveloped political systems and continued political division creates leadership that pulls countries in different directions rather than with a single, unified goal (Lynch, 2010, p. 205). The United Arab Republic (UAR) was formed by Syria and Egypt in 1958 with the intent to help unify the MENA; however, political division between the states nudged Syria out of the UAR. These instance of disunity cannot foster a prosperous joining of economies.