Book review on B. L. Glasser's "Economic Development and Political Reform: The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East"

Book review on B. L. Glasser's Author: Maximilian Spinner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638190781
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 13

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Book Description
Document from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: A, Central European University Budapest (Department of Political Science), course: The New Political Economy of Development, language: English, abstract: Oil seems to prevent the development of democracy and a free market economy. Oilrich countries as diverse as Nigeria, Saudi-Arabia, Irak, Iran, Venezuela or Azerbaijan appear to be among the least democratic countries with highly closed economies and little signs of change in their course. This assumption can be confirmed by the empirical correlation between low indices in democratic rule and in the openness of the economy, and the endowment with natural resources. Intuitively everybody could explain that in each of these countries a narrow elite can keep up this state due to almost unlimited and unconditional cash inflows compensating for ineffective economic structures and buying off the population with populist policies in subsidizing consumption or low taxation. In his book Economic Development and Political Reform – The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East Bradley Louis Glasser puts the development of Middle Eastern states with different degrees of resource endowment into a broader perspective. Economic liberalization and democratization are explained in the context of external capital contributing to both economic development theories and transitology.

Book review on B. L. Glasser's "Economic Development and Political Reform: The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East"

Book review on B. L. Glasser's Author: Maximilian Spinner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638190781
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 13

Get Book

Book Description
Document from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: A, Central European University Budapest (Department of Political Science), course: The New Political Economy of Development, language: English, abstract: Oil seems to prevent the development of democracy and a free market economy. Oilrich countries as diverse as Nigeria, Saudi-Arabia, Irak, Iran, Venezuela or Azerbaijan appear to be among the least democratic countries with highly closed economies and little signs of change in their course. This assumption can be confirmed by the empirical correlation between low indices in democratic rule and in the openness of the economy, and the endowment with natural resources. Intuitively everybody could explain that in each of these countries a narrow elite can keep up this state due to almost unlimited and unconditional cash inflows compensating for ineffective economic structures and buying off the population with populist policies in subsidizing consumption or low taxation. In his book Economic Development and Political Reform – The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East Bradley Louis Glasser puts the development of Middle Eastern states with different degrees of resource endowment into a broader perspective. Economic liberalization and democratization are explained in the context of external capital contributing to both economic development theories and transitology.

Economic Development and Political Reform

Economic Development and Political Reform PDF Author: Bradley Louis Glasser
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781781008188
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
"Providing new theoretical perspectives on Third World political and economic reform, this innovative volume will be of particular interest to political economists, international governmental and developmental organizations, international financial institutions and non-governmental organizations in this region."--BOOK JACKET.

Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring

Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring PDF Author: Larbi Sadiki
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650026
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1025

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Book Description
The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in Tunisia in December 2010 heralded the arrival of the ‘Arab Spring,’ a startling, yet not unprecedented, era of profound social and political upheaval. The meme of the Arab Spring is characterised by bottom-up change, or the lack thereof, and its effects are still unfurling today. The Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring seeks to provide a departure point for ongoing discussion of a fluid phenomenon on a plethora of topics, including: Contexts and contests of democratisation The sweep of the Arab Spring Egypt Women and the Arab Spring Agents of change and the technology of protest Impact of the Arab Spring in the wider Middle East and further afield Collating a wide array of viewpoints, specialisms, biases, and degrees of proximity and distance from events that shook the Arab world to its core, the Handbook is written with the reader in mind, to provide students, practitioners, diplomats, policy-makers and lay readers with contextualization and knowledge, and to set the stage for further discussion of the Arab Spring.

Economic and Political Change in the Middle East (RLE Economy of Middle East)

Economic and Political Change in the Middle East (RLE Economy of Middle East) PDF Author: Elias Tuma
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317594665
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
In the early 1960s the Middle East suffered from political instability, inefficiency of government, widespread poverty and inequality, low productivity, and a mounting population pressure on the region’s resources. With the exception of some of the oil-exporting countries, the entire region still suffers from these same burdens. There have been many studies in the economic development and industrialization of the region in recent years. This study is different, motivated by scepticism and a sense of intellectual frustration and apprehension because of the apparent inadequacy of socioeconomic and political development in the Middle East. First published in 1987.

The Middle East Economies in Times of Transition

The Middle East Economies in Times of Transition PDF Author: Ahmed Galal
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781137529763
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Diwan and Galal looks at the structure and prospects of the Middle East economies after the 2011 Uprisings, focusing on issues of economic growth, inequality, the impact of oil, and the unfolding political transitions. On the growth question, the book looks into the extent of structural transformation of the economy, the political economy reasons for the lack of structural change, and the external conditions in the EU and in the GCC that underpin the lack of structural change. On inequality, the book offers new measures of equality of opportunity in human development and in the job market, and it also reviews the complex political economy of subsidy removal. Regarding natural resources, the volume provides three innovations: connecting the notion of 'oil curse' to the global phenomena of asset bubbles; evidence that resource curse effects do not rise monotonically with the size of the resource rent, but rather, according to an inverted U shape; and an extension of the concept of rent to the other non-oil rents that are also predominant in the region. Finally, the volume places the political transition in the region in a global perspective using various methods – theoretical, comparative, and empirical, and it explores the relationship between democracy in its variety of forms and economic development.

Book Review Digest

Book Review Digest PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliography
Languages : en
Pages : 2542

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Book Description


From Privilege to Competition

From Privilege to Competition PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821378899
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
'From Privilege to Competition: Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the Middle East and North Africa' sheds new light on the difficult quest for stronger and more diversified growth in a region of unquestionable potential. It underlines the need to strengthen reforms in many areas specifically, by reducing policy uncertainty and improving credit and real estate markets. It also highlights other important issues that restrain the credibility and impact of reforms in many parts of the region: conflicts of interest between politicians and businesses, an investment climate that favors a few privileged firms, and a dominant private sector that often opposes reforms. The book recommends that countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) engage in more credible reform agendas by improving the implementation of policies in a manner that will reduce discretion and privileges. This renewed commitment to stronger growth would entail several developments. First, governments will need to reduce opportunities for rent-seeking and foster competition. Second, they will need to work to reform institutions: private sector development policies will need to be systematically anchored in elements of institutional and public sector reforms in order to reduce discretion and opacity and improve the quality of services to firms. Third, they will need to mobilize all stakeholders, including larger representations from the private sector, around dedicated long-term growth strategies. Short of such a fundamental shift in the way private sector policies are formulated and implemented, investor expectations that governments are committed to reform will be limited. It will take political will and time to support sustained reforms that credibly convince investors and the public that changes are real, deep, and set to last. MENA countries are endowed with strong human capital, good infrastructure, immense resources, and a great deal of untapped creativity and entrepreneurship. The economic and social payoff of embarking on a more ambitious private-led growth agenda could thus be immense for all.

Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth

Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth PDF Author: Mustapha Kamel Nabli
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821374168
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
The world's attention to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has often been dominated by headline issues: conflict, sanctions, political turmoil, and rising oil prices. Little of this international attention has considered the broad range of development challenges facing this diverse group of countries. Breaking the Barriers reflects the collected thinking of the World Bank's Office of the Chief Economist for the MENA Region on the long-term development challenges facing the region and the reform priorities and strategies for effectively meeting these challenges. It.

Foreign Aid and Economic Development in the Middle East

Foreign Aid and Economic Development in the Middle East PDF Author: Victor Lavy
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The acquisition of large amounts of foreign aid, handled improperly by a struggling economy, can weaken rather than strengthen it. This study reaches this sobering conclusion by examining how the economic boom enjoyed by Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in the 1970s turned into financial crisis by the 1980s. The analysis involves the political, economic, and social similarities and differences among the three countries and pinpoints both the internal and external factors that contributed most significantly to their economic declines. Particular attention focuses on the huge influx of foreign aid thay reached the region from 1978 to 1981 and was used to advance purposes such as military buildups rather than to enhance future economic growth potential. This left all three countries, regardless of their unique political structures, in economic chaos when outside funds ran out. The work outlines the economic developments and policies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan during the years of prosperity and crisis. Central to the discussion are the short- and long-term ramifications of both this downturn and the countries' refusal to restrict military expenditures. After illustrating how foreign aid should, therefore, not be used, this volume then urges that countries not depend on outside capital for their economic well-being, and demonstrates how economic reform can be achieved only by initiating responsible economic programs. The hardships associated with such a reversal in policy are considered, especially in light of the current Gulf conflict, but scholars of economic development and Middle East studies will agree that the extended benefits of such an approach far outweigh any temporary setbacks.

Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East

Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East PDF Author: Clement Moore Henry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139490818
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In this 2010 edition of their book on the economic development of the Middle East and North Africa, Clement Henry and Robert Springborg reflect on what has happened to the region's economy since 2001. How have the various countries in the Middle East responded to the challenges of globalization and to the rise of political Islam, and what changes, for better or for worse, have occurred? Utilizing the country categories they applied in the previous book and further elaborating the significance of the structural power of capital and Islamic finance, they demonstrate how over the past decade the monarchies (as exemplified by Jordan, Morocco and those of the Gulf Cooperation Council) and the conditional democracies (Israel, Turkey and Lebanon) continue to do better than the military dictatorships or 'bullies' (Egypt, Tunisia and now Iran) and 'the bunker states' (Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen).