Author: Robert P. Beschel
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815736983
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328
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Book Description
Critical examinations of efforts to make governments more efficient and responsive Political upheavals and civil wars in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have obscured efforts by many countries in the region to reform their public sectors. Unwieldy, unresponsive—and often corrupt—governments across the region have faced new pressure, not least from their publics, to improve the quality of public services and open up their decisionmaking processes. Some of these reform efforts were under way and at least partly successful before the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010. Reform efforts have continued in some countries despite the many upheavals since then. This book offers a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of reform efforts in nine countries. In six cases the reforms targeted core systems of government: Jordan's restructuring of cabinet operations, the Palestinian Authority's revision of public financial management, Morocco's voluntary retirement program, human resource management reforms in Lebanon, an e-governance initiative in Dubai, and attempts to improve transparency in Tunisia. Five other reform efforts tackled line departments of government, among them Egypt's attempt to improve tax collection and Saudi Arabia's work to improve service delivery and bill collection. Some of these reform efforts were more successful than others. This book examines both the good and the bad, looking not only at what each reform accomplished but at how it was implemented. The result is a series of useful lessons on how public sector reforms can be adopted in MENA.
Author: Thomas Carothers
Publisher: Carnegie Endowment
ISBN: 0870032860
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313
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Book Description
The United States faces no greater challenge today than successfully fulfilling its new ambition of helping bring about a democratic transformation of the Middle East. Uncharted Journey contributes a wealth of concise, illuminating insights on this subject, drawing on the contributors' deep knowledge of Arab politics and their substantial experience with democracy-building in other parts of the world. The essays in part one vividly dissect the state of Arab politics today, including an up-to-date examination of the political shock wave in the region produced by the invasion of Iraq. Part two and three set out a provocative exploration of the possible elements of a democracy promotion strategy for the region. The contributors identify potential false steps as well as a productive way forward, avoiding the twin shoals of either reflexive pessimism in the face of the daunting obstacles to Arab democratization or an unrealistic optimism that fails to take into account the region's political complexities. Contributors include Eva Bellin (Hunter College), Daniel Brumberg (Carnegie Endowment), Thomas Carothers (Carnegie Endowment), Michele Dunne (Georgetown University), Graham Fuller, Amy Hawthorne (Carnegie Endowment), Marina Ottaway (Carnegie Endowment), and Richard Youngs (Foreign Policy Centre).
Author: Larry Diamond
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421409682
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
Predicts that East Asia, with its remarkable diversity of political regimes, economies, and religions, would likely be the critical arena in the global struggle for democracy, a prediction that has proven prescient. This title offers a treatment of the political landscape in both Northeast and Southeast Asia.
Author: Yun-han Chu
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231517831
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329
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Book Description
East Asian democracies are in trouble, their legitimacy threatened by poor policy performance and undermined by nostalgia for the progrowth, soft-authoritarian regimes of the past. Yet citizens throughout the region value freedom, reject authoritarian alternatives, and believe in democracy. This book is the first to report the results of a large-scale survey-research project, the East Asian Barometer, in which eight research teams conducted national-sample surveys in five new democracies (Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Mongolia), one established democracy (Japan), and two nondemocracies (China and Hong Kong) in order to assess the prospects for democratic consolidation. The findings present a definitive account of the way in which East Asians understand their governments and their roles as citizens. Contributors use their expert local knowledge to analyze responses from a set of core questions, revealing both common patterns and national characteristics in citizens' views of democracy. They explore sources of divergence and convergence in attitudes within and across nations. The findings are sobering. Japanese citizens are disillusioned. The region's new democracies have yet to prove themselves, and citizens in authoritarian China assess their regime's democratic performance relatively favorably. The contributors to this volume contradict the claim that democratic governance is incompatible with East Asian cultures but counsel against complacency toward the fate of democracy in the region. While many forces affect democratic consolidation, popular attitudes are a crucial factor. This book shows how and why skepticism and frustration are the ruling sentiments among today's East Asians.
Author: Amin Saikal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
Part I. Democratic peace, conflict prevention, and the United Nations. Part II. Secularization and democracy. Part III. National and regional experiences.
Author: Haim Malka
Publisher: CSIS
ISBN: 9780892064861
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 116
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Book Description
"Talk of reform is on the lips of many in Morocco, from the salons to the slums, and far into the countryside. Moroccans talk about reform in their country as an imperative, and the country s young king has been a key driver. Because of that, Morocco has drawn the attention of governments in the United States and Europe, which have seen their own strategic interests being tied to economic, political, and social reform in the Middle East and North Africa. Given all of the interest in reform, are the Moroccans going about it the right way? Are outside powers playing the proper constructive role, or are they undermining their own and Moroccans efforts toward positive change? This study analyzes U.S. and European policies to promote reform in Morocco, as well as the efforts of Moroccans themselves, and it seeks to understand the most effective ways to create complementary strategies toward reform." -- Product description.
Author: Larry Jay Diamond
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780801852572
Category : Democracy.
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
The emergence of new democracies in Eastern Europe has raised anew the question of the relationship between economic reform and political liberalization. Should economic reform come first, then political liberalization? Or political reform first, followed by economic change? Or both at the same time? In Economic Reform and Democracy Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner bring together a distinguished group of authorities to examine this question as it relates to Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Topics include the challenges of consolidation; the myth of the authoritarian advantage; the second stage of reform in Latin America; linkages between politics and economics; the case for radical reform; going beyond shock therapy; the puzzle of East Asian exceptionalism; an alternative for Africa; the ability of the Middle East to compete; democratization and business interests; the politics of safety nets; and the problems of simultaneous transitions. Contributors: Larry Diamond, Marc F. Plattner, Stephan Haggard, Robert R. Kaufman, Jos Mara Maravall, Moiss Nam, Joan M. Nelson, Barbara Geddes, Anders ?slund, Leszek Balcerowixz, Padma Desai, Minxin Pei, Adebayo Adedeji, Thomas Callaghy, Nicholas van de Walle, Henri Barkey, John D. Sullivan, William Douglas, Carol Graham, Leslie Elliot Armijo, Thomas J. Biersteker, and Abraham F. Lowenthal.
Author: S. Heydemann
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403982147
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 335
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Book Description
This volume explores the role of informal networks in the politics of Middle Eastern economic reform. The editor's introduction demonstrates how network-based models overcome limitations in existing approaches to the politics of economic reform. The following chapters show how business-state networks in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan have affected privatization programs and the reform of fiscal policies. They help us understand patterns and variation in the organization and outcome of economic reform programs, including the opportunities that economic reforms offered for reorganizing networks of economic privilege across the Middle East.
Author: Larry Diamond
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421405687
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 205
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Book Description
Liberation Technology brings together cutting-edge scholarship from scholars and practitioners at the forefront of this burgeoning field of study. An introductory section defines the debate with a foundational piece on liberation technology and is then followed by essays discussing the popular dichotomy of liberation'' versus "control" with regard to the Internet and the sociopolitical dimensions of such controls. Additional chapters delve into the cases of individual countries: China, Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia.
Author: Tamara Cofman Wittes
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200
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Book Description
"Dissects the Bush administration's failure to advance freedom in the Middle East. Lays out a strategy for committed U.S. promotion of democracy, arguing that only development of a more liberal and democratic politics in the Arab world can create a firmer foundation for Arab-American ties and secure U.S. long-term goals"--Provided by publisher.
