Suchergebnisse

The book presents the state-of-the-art document describing the knowledge, data, cost-effectiveness and technologies employed to manage the waste in several countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordon, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen. It covers diverse topics including the status of the waste in the region, solid waste management, solid waste recovery and disposal, the use of the agricultural waste in feeding poultry, sludge disposal and management, wastewater treatment and energy production. Also, the book explains how waste management systems are becoming more complex in many countries with the move from landfill-based to resource recovery-based solutions following the setting of international and national targets to divert waste from landfill and to increase recycling and recovery rates. Besides, this book also evaluates the environmental legislation in the selected countries and suggests new performance enhancements. This book is of interest to environmental professionals including scientists and policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and areas with similar features

Russia wields its influence in pursuit of important state interests. As in the Soviet era, contemporary Russia declares ambitious goals and pursues them in a desperate effort to play a decisive role in world politics. The overall objective of Russian foreign policy is to become a world power, and gaining influence over the MENA region is a means to achieving that end. As is clearly expressed in strategic documents, Russia considers the MENA region a priority domain for extensive diplomatic activity. The Kremlin's MENA policy incorporates a critically important premise, noninterventionism, that is attractive to the region's autocratic regimes, which resist Western-style liberal "interventionist" democracy. Russia's influence on these countries is increasingly strong due to its (1) deideologized approach, (2) assistance (in the form of long-term loans) in the construction of nuclear power plants as well as arms supplies, and (3) anti-American stance, reflecting Arab and Iranian (Islamic) interests.

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.

This paper provides a synthesis of the country cases in the Middle East and North Africa: Oman, Bahrain, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. Although these countries differ in terms of resource endowments and economic evolution, they share common aspects of successful development. This chapter focuses on the developmental role played by good management of oil incomes, social cohesion, equitable distribution of oil resources, and political stability in Bahrain, Oman, and UAE, and human capital and trade openness in Tunisia. The chapter also discusses the major challenges faced by these countries, including particularly the need for political reforms, in order to achieve a higher and sustainable economic development. Finally, it draws some lessons for development.

This essay analyzes how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is likely to address the new security environment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It investigates how factors internal and external to the alliance shape the possibilities and limits for its ambition to strengthen and develop its regional partnerships in order to enhance security and stability there. NATO's ambitions are likely to be hampered by competing priorities within the alliance, as the as the members are increasingly facing diverging interests and financial austerity as well as domestic political change and regional rivalries in the MENA region.

Abstract
This paper calculates an index measuring economic sustainability for the mainstream economy in the MENA region during the period 1999–2016. Our approximation says that a large value of the index indicates more stress on the economy or low sustainability and vice versa. We also explore some macroeconomic variables as potential determinants of economic sustainability. We employ the panel data analysis, in particular the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS). Our results show that economic development, trade openness, and political stability encourage economic sustainability. In contrast, government expenditures and control of corruption hinder the sustainability of the economy. Our paper suggests that policymakers should concentrate on economic development, enhance the trade openness, and create political stability environment to strengthen economic sustainability.
JEL classifications: I31, O11, Q01
Keywords: Economic sustainability; Economic development; Panel analysis; FGLS; MENA region

Purpose
Innovation has become the engine of economic growth, especially with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This paper aims at studying the association between innovation – measured by gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) – and economic performance – represented by real gross domestic product (GDP) – in MENA region over the period 1996-2016.


Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the panel corrected standard error method to account for heteroskedacity and possible contemporaneous correlation across panels, and the first order autocorrelation within panel for unbalanced datasets.


Findings
The study concludes that R&D expenditure is positive and statistically significant in explaining GDP, but their relationship is weak. Specifically, a 10 per cent increase in R&D expenditure raises GDP by 4 per cent. In addition, human capital, labor force and fixed capital accumulation are found positive and statistically significant. These findings highlight on the importance of innovation and education on fostering economic growth, urging MENA governments to further invest in R&D and innovation sector.


Originality/value
To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate the relationship between GERD and GDP in MENA region within the endogenous-growth model framework.

Abstract
Financing for Development was addressed by the international community since more than 25 years, when the Monterrey Consensus of the International Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey, Mexico, March 2002) urged mobilising and increasing the effective use of financial resources to fulfil the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals. In 2015, a new Development Agenda was designed and was based on the Development Finance. Consequently, the efficient exploitation of traditional and innovative finance resources in economic, social and human development has become a global top priority. This study analyses the impact of 7 resources of financial flows on 6 socio-economic variables in a sample of 19 MENA countries over the period 1991–2015 to test the efficient exploitation of these resources in development. The results show that government spending and official development assistance are the most important factor in boosting development in the MENA region. International trade plays a limited role in financing development, whereas foreign direct investment has the least effect on MENA development.