Arab Development Funds in the Middle East details the activities of Arab development funds in promoting economic cooperation and development within the Arab region. The title analyzes the efforts the Arab development funds, particularly how they cooperate to promote regional development. Each chapter of the text details the management, policies, and operations of the Arab development funds. The funds covered are Kuwait fund, Abu Dhabi fund, and the Arab fund. The book will be of great interest to individuals who have a keen interest on the socio-economic development of the Arab region.
Despite notable socio-economic development in the Arab region, a deficit in democracy and political rights has continued to prevail. This book examines the major reasons underlying the persistence of this democracy deficit over the past decades, drawing on case studies from across the Arab world to explore economic development, political institutions and social factors, and the impact of oil wealth and regional wars.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.
Using four Gulf sovereign wealth funds as case studies - Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - this book examines and analyses the history, governance and structure, and investment strategies of the above mentioned funds, in the context of on-going debates about their transparency. The book discusses how most Gulf sovereign wealth funds were established under colonial rule, and have operated in the global financial system for many decades. With the increase of oil revenues, it goes on to look at how the funds have broadened their asset classes and their institutional development. Debate over the transparency of sovereign wealth funds has highlighted various global practices. Recently, organisational measures have been introduced for calculating possible risks from non-commercial investment incentives of funds, whose politically-driven investment strategies are viewed as potentially a major threat to the national security of their host countries. Highlighting a number of incidents that triggered the transparency debate, the book scrutinises the reaction of some of the Gulf sovereign wealth funds to these recent regulatory codes and strategies. It is a useful contribution to Development, Political Economy and Middle East Studies.
This book, first published in 1986, examines the literature on administration, human resources and development in the Arab world. It emphasizes contemporary societies and their internal dynamics, the least known and most critical aspects of Arabic studies.
Over the past four decades the Arab nations have exercised an enormous political and economic influence on world events. Much of that impact has been exerted not through the direct actions of individual governments but collectively or indirectly through pan-Arab organizations, economic associations such as OPEC, or through international agencies including the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. "Arab Regional Organizations "is a fully annotated bibliographic guide to the functions, infrastructures, and effectiveness of Arab organizational activity. The organizations covered in this volume have grown in importance in lockstep with developments in the Middle East. This is particularly so in the areas of economics and energy where there has been the establishment of national control over the oil industry and a consequent economic boom. Institutions such as the Gulf Cooperation Council have also become vital to the continued politcal stability of the member states and to the strategic importance of the region as illustrated by the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf War. The book also takes note of the special economic importance of organizations such as the Kuwait, Saudi, and Abu Dhabi Funds. These perform a major role among developing nations because of their project aid and technical assistance programs. "Arab Regional Organizations "covers a variety of subjects but concentrates on economics, energy, politics, and development subjects. A lengthy introductory section is designed to provide readers with the background of each organization and to direct them to other sources of information. A supplementary section deals with the effects of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War. Researchers, librarians, economists, political scientists, and Middle East specialists will find this volume an invaluable guide to the literature of the region.
This book, first published in 1976 and in this second edition in 1988, combines an examination of the political, cultural and economic geography of the Middle East with a detailed study of the region’s landscape features, natural resources, environmental conditions and ecological evolution. The Middle East, with its extremes of climate and terrain, has long fascinated those interested in the fine balance between man and his environment, and now its economic and political importance in world affairs has brought the region to the attention of everybody.
