Suchergebnisse

In der vorliegenden Studie untersucht die Autorin unter akteurstheoretischer und kulturalistischer Perspektive den Konsolidierungsprozess in Tunesien, Ägypten und Libyen. Die Verfasserin führt zunächst in das Thema ein, indem sie Fragestellung, Hypothese sowie gesellschaftliche und wissenschaftliche Relevanz herausstellt, um anschließend einen Überblick über den Forschungsstand sowie die Vorgehensweise der Arbeit zu geben. Der theoretische Rahmen der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird nach der Klärung der zentralen Begriffe Demokratie und Transformation mit Merkels Mehrebenenmodell der demokratischen Konsolidierung und der Akteurstheorie von O`Donnell und Schmitter bzw. Huntingtons Kampf der Kulturen gezogen. Auf dieser Grundlage untersucht die Autorin mit der vergleichenden Methode den Konsolidierungsstand in den drei Fällen bzw. arbeitet die Erklärung für deren aufgefundene Konsolidierungsdefizite heraus.

This report analyses the key energy factors and trends shaping the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's energy landscape. The unsustainable increase in energy demand, driven by population and economic growth, is exerting considerable pressure on governments in the region to institute significant policy changes and demand-side measures as well as energy mix diversification (with a current energy mix that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels – mainly oil and natural gas). Should the increase in energy consumption rates persist in the future, many ountries will see their export capacities (and eventually revenues) reduced as more energy is destined for domestic consumption. The US shale revolution is also having an impact on oil and gas prices. Low oil and gas prices as well as growing role of LNG in world gas markets have an impact on the MENA region's export markets, including effects on the chemical and petrochemical industry. In order for the countries in the region to fulfil their economic growth aspirations and move quickly to a more sustainable energy system, efforts should be intensified to diversify their energy mixes, especially through developing and deploying renewable energy on a wider scale.

The distinction between normative and objective knowledge and how social scientist imagine that their research is solely built on objectivity is currently being challenged especially in the political science field. If we take culture as an example and more specifically the question of identity and identity politics in the Middle East, we will find that the current modus operandi in political science research is distancing itself from objective knowledge because of the increased focus in the field on quantification. Whether one analyzes the work of Telhami on Identity in the Middle East, or Lynch's "The Arab Uprisings Explained", one will find that they all reflect on the academic conundrum that the field is facing. ; La distinción entre el conocimiento normativo y el conocimiento objetivo, así como el modo en que los científicos sociales imaginan su investigación en términos o no de objetividad, es algo que viene discutiéndose actualmente, especialmente en el campo de la ciencia política. Considerando la cultura y, más específicamente, la cuestión de la identidad y las políticas de identidad en Oriente Medio, encontramos que el modus operandi actual en la investigación de la ciencia política se está alejando del conocimiento objetivo debido al mayor enfoque en el campo de la cuantificación. Si uno analiza el trabajo de Telhami sobre Identidad en Oriente Medio, o bien las razones de los llamados "levantamientos" árabes de Lynch, encontrará que todos ellos cuestionan el rango académico del campo de estudio.

AbstractThe position of women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a complex topic, difficult to comprehend without allowing for socio‐cultural norms, legal frameworks and the global gender context. In thinking about a practical framework for action, the free market perspective is relevant and necessary. However, this alone does not seem to provide a complete answer to the problem of promoting women's economic status. This article makes the case for the importance of market‐friendly, but also gender‐sensitive, policies to promote women's economic freedom and hence women's emancipation in the MENA region.

There is reasonable agreement that effective and well-developed institutions have a significant role to play in economic development. Accordingly a number of studies have attempted to relate institutions to the rate of economic growth and the level of efficiency of markets. This paper assesses the relationship between a number of economic development and institutional variables and the level of financial market development in the Middle East and north Africa (MENA) region. Correlation matrices support the view that the institutional environment in which financial markets function is important, as this reinforces the efficient allocation of economic rights that are essential for markets to function optimally. The correlation analysis also establishes a link between the development of financial markets and governance in the MENA region. However, regression estimates indicate that infrastructure development and the degree of openness of an economy are the most robust indicators for the development and effective functioning of financial markets in the MENA region.

The Middle East and North Africa is one of the world's most rapidly transforming regions, politically, economically, demographically and environmentally. Despite largely declining total fertility rates, the momentum of absolute population growth will mean that the region surpasses China in terms of total population by 2090. Land degradation, water stress and trends of urbanisation will also have significant impacts upon the future development of this region. In contending with the coming social, ecological and climatic shifts facing the region, policymakers will need to effectively capture the multi-faceted dynamics of these challenges but also opportunities. This paper outlines the key demographic and economic trends and transitions underway across MENA countries as material factors informing the efficacy of future policy responses to these emergent trends. Demographic trends in age-specific and gender ratios are discussed, before exploring transitions in fertility rates, migration, conflict, social welfare and urbanisation along with the possible implications of such transitions. Later, key economic factors are assessed, including correlations between resources endowments, labour market performance (particularly rates of youth unemployment), public debt and expenditure figures, and trade performance indicators. Considered together, a sub-regional disaggregation of these economic factors is presented, characterising emerging trends and challenges across the region and its broader integration into the global economy.

Teil XI unserer Serie zum "Islamischen Staat". Die große Aufmerksamkeit für den Islamischen Staat (IS) hängt nicht nur mit dessen militärischen Erfolgen zusammen, sondern auch mit seinem Anspruch, einen neuen Staat aufzubauen. Das Phänomen der hohen Anzahl ausländischer Kämpfer gerade aus den Ländern Nordafrikas und des Nahen Ostens scheint die Anschlussfähigkeit dieser Idee zu unterstreichen. Inwieweit der Anspruch auf Staatsaufbau tatsächlich eingelöst werden kann, hinterfrage ich in diesem Beitrag. Danach beleuchte ich die Ausgangslage ausländischer Kämpfer aus der MENA-Region und vertrete die These, dass die Attraktivität des IS für viele junge Männer vor allem auf der Krise der Staatlichkeit in ihren Heimatländern basiert.

During the course of the so-called Arab Spring, observers were quick to refer to the uprisings as "Facebook revolutions" or "Twitter revolutions". Although the important role of social media in the 2011 upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is widely acknowledged, its impact on political processes in the region remains contested and contradictory. Rather than looking at social media through a transformation or security lens, the research presented here focused on how debates on three events in the MENA region - the emergence of a video of a rape on Cairo's Tahrir Square in June 2014, anti-fracking protests in southern Algeria in early 2015, and Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Yemen in March 2015 - unfolded on Twitter. Closely tracing Twitter debates on these incidents shed light on Twitter's role in important social and political discussions as well as on the scope and patterns of Twitter networks and digital solidarities. In other words, it highlighted the various ways in which Twitter was used by ordinary people, activists, media outlets, and officials, and in doing so, it provides an idea of the political impact such debates can have via Twitter. The research also revealed that the breadth of opinion on Twitter far exceeds that of traditional media in the MENA region, and the more repressive a context, the more important Twitter becomes. Furthermore, Twitter, in forging digital solidarities, contributes to deepening existing social and political cleavages. That is, the platform is not an autonomous digital space following logics different from those in the physical world. Rather, the dynamics of Twitter are strongly driven by local historical experience, social patterns, and national politics. (SWP Research Paper)