The Middle East in the World System Context in Comparison with India and China: Some Backgrounds of Islamism in the MENA Region

2018 ◽  
pp. 27-57
Author(s):  
Leonid Grinin ◽  
Andrey Korotayev
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
World System ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
The World ◽  
India And China ◽  
System Context

scholarly journals Le Proche-Orient dans le système mondial

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Hentsch
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
World System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The World ◽  
Directed Development ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Palestinian Question

The Middle East is generally perceived in the West, often in simplistic terms, as an area which is crucial to the West's economic and strategic interests. Given the complexity of this new « Eastern question », the Western perspective is important because it counts for a lot in determining the future of this region and in defining the position the Middle East holds in the world System. This dominant perspective has nonetheless the defect of putting on the back burner the interests of the peoples of the Middle East and the possibilities of a different scenario which corresponds less with the designs of the great powers today and more with the needs of the Middle Eastern countries. The present and future position of the Middle East in the world System should thus be examined from an internal viewpoint as much as from an external one. Seen from the outside, the region appears essentially as a pawn. From this perspective, the deterioration of the Palestinian question permits the great powers (particularly the United States) to keep the Arab governments divided and thus blocks the way to regional cooperation susceptible to putting the energy resources of the oil producers at the service of self-directed development in the region. Seen from the inside, however, this cooperation, beyond its economic advantages, has interesting social and cultural possibilities, It is thus a question of knowing which conditions would develop these possibilities. The question is important because, to a certain extent, the outcome of the Middle Eastern situation will serve as an example to the Third World as a whole to the extent that the Middle East develops a strategy for a new kind of development defined and carried out free from dependency on external powers. The precondition to this effort is clearly the formulation and effective maintenance of a common Arab position which is coherent and realistic on the Palestinian question ; inevitably this is central to all Middle Eastern policy.

Towards a Paradigm Shift in Higher Education in the MENA Region

2014 ◽  
pp. 8-30
Author(s):  
Hayat Al-Khatib
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
The World ◽  
Knowledge And Technology Transfer

Higher education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has not been able to deliver the needed knowledge and technology transfer to generate productivity and innovation in this part of the world (Arab Economic and Social Summit, 2009; Thomson and Reuters, 2007). Youth unemployment in the MENA region remains the highest in the world, with the Middle East rating 21% and North Africa rating 25%, out of whom one-third are university graduates (World Bank, 2013). The chapter aims to address issues pertaining to the need to shift perspective in higher education in the MENA region, in the light of its growing importance as a developing entity with natural and human resources. The chapter identifies the role of higher education, in policies and practice, in addressing the needs of the region and transforming its resources, human and physical, to further its economic development.

Attitudes of Students in the GCC Region towards the Arab Spring

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Naufal ◽  
Ismail Genc ◽  
Carlos Vargas-Silva
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
South Asia ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Arab Spring

The purpose of this chapter is to present new empirical research on the Arab Spring and, specifically, to focus on the attitudes of residents of one country in the Middle East towards the Arab Spring. This research was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been one of the main migrant destinations in the world for the last two decades. This allows for comparisons regarding attitudes towards the Arab Spring across individuals from different regions of origin such as GCC, South Asia, and Western countries. The attitudes of university students are important because the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has experienced a substantial increase in the 17 to 23 years of age population. Existing reports suggest that, by far, those involved in Arab Spring protests were young individuals. The analysis places particular emphasis on the correlation of attitudes towards the Arab Spring with three key aspects: religiousness, attachment to the GCC countries, and attachment to country of origin.

scholarly journals Adverse Effects of Wheat Gluten

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (Suppl. 2) ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frits Koning
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Nutritional Value ◽  
Wheat Gluten ◽  
Western World ◽  
Gluten Free ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The World ◽  
India And China

Man began to consume cereals approximately 10,000 years ago when hunter-gatherers settled in the fertile golden crescent in the Middle East. Gluten has been an integral part of the Western type of diet ever since, and wheat consumption is also common in the Middle East, parts of India and China as well as Australia and Africa. In fact, the food supply in the world heavily depends on the availability of cereal-based food products, with wheat being one of the largest crops in the world. Part of this is due to the unique properties of wheat gluten, which has a high nutritional value and is crucial for the preparation of high-quality dough. In the last 10 years, however, wheat and gluten have received much negative attention. Many believe that it is inherently bad for our health and try to avoid consumption of gluten-containing cereals; a gluten-low lifestyle so to speak. This is fueled by a series of popular publications like Wheat Belly; Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health. However, in reality, there is only one condition where gluten is definitively the culprit: celiac disease (CD), affecting approximately 1% of the population in the Western world. Here, I describe the complexity of the cereals from which gluten is derived, the special properties of gluten which make it so widely used in the food industry, the basis for its toxicity in CD patients and the potential for the development of safe gluten and alternatives to the gluten-free diet.

scholarly journals Integration and the Diplomatic Crisis: Current Realities of the GCC

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
L. V. Shkvarya
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
World Market ◽  
Regional Economic Integration ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
The World

The article analyzes the integration process in the Gulf Cooperation Council group countries (GCC), which was founded in 1981. Regional economic integration in the GCC has passed through the several traditional stages: the Free trade zone, the Customs Union and the Common market. Certain exceptions remain in the GCC integration, but the countries aim to create a full economic Union by 2025. Currently, the GCC is one of the most advanced and successful integration associations in developing countries. However, the GCC is the only truly functioning integration bloc in the MENA region. The author's analysis confirms that the share of intraregional trade is growing in the GCC, but this share is less high than in other integration blocs. The author emphasizes that the GCC countries have significant success in the world market of goods and capital. The GCC trade turnover is growing steadily, although it depends on fluctuations in world oil prices. The GCC region attracts a lot of foreign investment and technology. This allows them to continue to diversify their national economies. The level and quality of life in the GCC is improving. These and other achievements are largely the result of regional economic integration and cooperation between countries in various areas on the world and regional markets. At the same time, the GCC is one of the most strategically important regions in the world economy and politics. Economic and political processes are influenced by many factors, both internal and external. Therefore, there are many contradictions in the GCC, and sometimes crisis situations are formed. One of them is the current "diplomatic crisis". It began in 2017 and has so far created numerous problems in the region and in the Arab world as a whole. It also has a negative impact on the development and deepening of integration processes. The author analyzed statistical data for 2009-2018 and justified the conclusion that the "diplomatic crisis" damages intraregional trade, reduces the dynamics of macroeconomic indicators, and worsens the position of the GCC countries in the world market of goods and capital. It also creates difficulties for citizens of GCC countries and companies that operate in the region. Now GCC countries should develop a mechanism to de-escalate the crisis, as this is in the economic and political interests of all participants and the Middle East as a whole. The relevance of the research is due to the need to analyze regional economic integration processes in the subregion in the context of growing global instability. The research makes a significant contribution to understanding the nature and features of integration processes in the Middle East.

scholarly journals The Fragility-Grievances-Conflict Triangle in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): An Exploration of the Correlative Associations

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Timo Kivimäki
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

The intention of this special issue of Social Sciences is to study state fragility and its relationship with conflict and grievances in the post-Cold War Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This article will lay the foundation for such a study by offering a conceptual foundation, data and the identification of the correlative associations that are specific to the MENA region. This article suggests that the relationship between political legitimacy, factionalism of the state, and conflict needs special, MENA-specific emphasis, as this relationship seems more prominently different in the MENA region, compared to the rest of the world. While in the rest of the world, different aspects of state fragility all relate to grievances and conflict dynamics, in the MENA region political factionalism has a disproportionate role in the explanation of conflict grievances and violence. Moreover, the role of oil dependence, and the impact of external intervention requires attention of specialists of the region.

MENA Region and the Possible Beginning of World System Reconfiguration

2016 ◽  
pp. 28-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid Efimovich Grinin ◽  
Andrey Korotayev
Keyword(s):  
World System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
System Reconfiguration ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
The World ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
The Arab Spring

This chapter offers a thorough analysis of the internal conditions in the MENA countries on the eve of the Arab Spring, as well as causes and consequences of the Arab Revolutions. The chapter also offers an analysis of similar historical World System reconfigurations starting with the 16th century Reformation. The analysis is based on the theory (developed by the authors) of the periodical catch-ups experienced by the political component of the World System that tends to lag behind the World System economic component. Thus, we show that the asynchrony of development of various functional subsystems of the World Sys-tem is a cause of the synchrony of major political changes. In other words, with-in the globalization process, political transformations tend to lag far behind economic transformations. And such lags cannot constantly increase, the gaps are eventually bridged, but in not quite a smooth way. The chapter also suggests an explanation why the current catch-up of the World System political component started in the MENA region.

Unevenness, (Under)development, and Resistance in the Middle East and North Africa: An Introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gönenç Uysal
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The World

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been one of the most significant peripheries of the world capitalist system studied for its social, economic, and political underdevelopment, crises, and conflicts, not only in comparison to Western countries but also in relation to the discrepancies within the region itself. Yet, the protests and uprisings against imperialism, colonialism, and authoritarianism have underlined the burning necessity for critical/radical approaches to examine the political economy of the MENA and state-society relations in the region. This special issue draws upon critical/radical approaches and explores unevenness, (under)development, and resistance that have characterised the economic relations, social structures, and state apparatuses in the MENA. 

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