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.
"The late-summer headlines of a landmark peace accord between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization stunned and delighted citizens of conscience from every walk of life and from all over the world. Here, at last, were the first glimmerings of harmony for a region whose bloody, intractable conflicts between Arab and Jew had outlived hot and cold wars alike to become an inescapable, insoluble fact of life in our modern age." "Many men and women of peace and vision worked together to bring about this epoch-making accord, but none played a more prominent and crucial role than Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former Prime Minister, Shimon Peres. Using both behind-the-scenes statecraft and the very public platform of the international media, Peres has called for nothing less than a total transvaluation of our thinking about the future of the Middle East. Peace, he has argued eloquently, is the only alternative for Jews and Arabs poised on the verge of a new century, and a new millennium. Peace will come only as the result of compromise. Peace is the only way to prevent posterity from making the same terrible mistakes of preceding generations." "In The New Middle East Peres offers a compelling vision of the future for his region. He sees a reconstructed Middle East, free of the conflicts that plagued it in the past, set to take its place in a new era - an era that will not tolerate backwardness or ignorance. He sees a social revival, and an economic revival as well - one fueled by the billions upon billions of dollars wasted for decades on defense. But crucially, he is not fixated only on what might be. He offers a no less cogent analysis of how peace can be achieved. He seeks nothing short of a historic new chapter between two peoples: to end a hundred years of hostility, and to begin a hundred years of peace and understanding." "The New Middle East is a blueprint for the dawning of a new age. A visionary manifesto of current events no one can afford to ignore, it also may become one of the enduring political documents of our time."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
A study of the Arab economic boycott of Israel. This title includes the evolution and development of the boycott, and examines aspects such as theory, practice and legality of the longest-lasting example of economic sanctions in the 20th century.
Markus Bouillon's book makes an important and original contribution to the literature on the Middle East peace process. It is based on extensive and imaginative research and it is packed with new and fascinating material. Bouillon places the behaviour of the elites under an uncompromising lens. His work serves as a useful corrective to the conventional wisdom by highlighting the negative effects of the peace process for all but the elites in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. Avi Shlaim, Oxford University. "The first full-length, authoritative account of the various dimensions of business in the context of Arab-Israeli peace. ... an empirically dense and nuanced analysis" James Piscatori, Oxford University
The paper analyzes the scope and implications of greater economic integration in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). After reviewing whether MENA satisfies the defining characteristics of a region, it documents the low level of regional economic interaction. It argues that gains from greater regional interactions will depend primarily on implementing domestic reform and external policies that, in any case, are needed for the region to benefit from the broader process of globalization of the world economy. It also discusses measures aimed directly at facilitating regional interaction.
The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) diplomatic engagement with the Middle East spans multiple dimensions, including trade and investment, the energy sector, and military cooperation. Connecting China through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean and Europe, the Middle East is a unique geostrategic location for Beijing, a critical source of energy resources, and an area of expanding economic ties. The Middle East geographical and political area is subject to different country inclusion interpretations that have changed over time and reflect complex and multifaceted circumstances involving conflict, religion, ethnicity, and language. China considers most Arab League member countries (as well as Israel, Turkey, and Iran) as representing the Middle East. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and official Chinese publications refer to this region as Xiya beifei (West Asia and North Africa). China sees the Middle East as an intrinsic part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and has ramped up investment in the region accordingly, focusing on energy (including nuclear power), infrastructure construction, agriculture, and finance. This book uses the BRI as a framework for analyzing ChinaMiddle East relations, with special emphasis on the PRCs strategic partnerships via regional mutual interdependency in various sectors such as energy, infrastructure building, political ties, trade and investment, financial integration, people to people bonding, and defense. A stable Middle East region is vital for Chinas sustainable growth and continued prosperity. As the worlds largest oil consumer with an ambition to expand its economic and political influence, the Middle Easts geostrategic location and holder of most of the worlds known energy resources make it indispensable to the success of the Belt and Road Initiative.
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
The UAE¿s relatively open borders, economy, and society have won praise from advocates of expanded freedoms in the Middle East while producing financial excesses, social ills such as prostitution and human trafficking, and relatively lax controls on sensitive technologies acquired from the West. Contents of this report: (1) Governance, Human Rights, and Reform: Status of Political Reform; Human Rights-Related Issues; (2) Cooperation Against Terrorism and Proliferation; (3) Foreign Policy and Defense Cooperation With the U.S.: Regional Issues; Security Cooperation with the U.S.: Relations With Iran; Cooperation on Iraq; Cooperation on Afghanistan and Pakistan; U.S. and Other Arms Sales; UAE Provision of Foreign Aid; (4) Economic Issues.
