Hard traveling: unemployment and road infrastructure in the shadow of political conflict

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Alexei Sisulu Abrahams
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
The West ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Second Intifada ◽  
Economic Infrastructure ◽  
Israeli Army

Abstract If political circumstances are an important cause of unemployment in the Middle East, does this tend to attenuate the influence of economic infrastructure? I approach this question by building a geospatial dataset of the West Bank, an area with high unemployment arguably linked to political problems. I find Israeli army road obstacles, deployed during the Second Intifada, obstructed peri-urban Palestinian commuters from accessing commercial centers and border crossings, inflicting employment losses that were substantially offset by employment gains among their more centrally located Palestinian competitors. The findings suggest that marginal economic interventions, such as removing obstacles or paving roads, have a good chance of altering the spatial distribution of unemployment, but may struggle to reduce overall unemployment levels absent political reform.

6. The Puzzle of Political Reform in the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 132-157
Author(s):  
Augustus Richard Norton
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter assesses the critical issue of political reform in the Middle East. The Arab world has been slow to respond to the global processes of democratization. The chapter then highlights the political economy of states, the persistence of conflict, regime type, and the ambiguity over the relationship between democracy and Islam. This relationship is not necessarily a contradictory one. Islamic discourse is marked by participation and diversity rather than by rigidity and intolerance. Further, as the Arab Spring has illustrated, civil society is vibrant and growing in many states across the region. Meanwhile, responses from the West to political reform have been lukewarm, with stability and regional alliances privileged over democracy. The evidence from the region, even before the Arab uprisings, is that peoples want better and more representative government, even if they remain unclear as to what type of government that should be.

scholarly journals Forensic psychiatry in Israel

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 143-145
Author(s):  
Peretz Barak ◽  
Harvey Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Arab World ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The West ◽  
The City

Israel is a nation of ancient and contemporary interest. Its population is made up of approximately 5 million Jews, 1 million Arabs and a few other small minorities. As in the Arab world more generally, most Arabs in Israel are Muslim, with a small percentage being Christian (Bin-Talal, 1995). More than 2 million Arabs also live on the West Bank and in Gaza (Abdeen & Abu-Libdeh, 1993), currently under partial autonomous Palestinian rule and the foci for ongoing negotiation of a potential Palestinian State. Close links have historically existed between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East, notwithstanding current military and political conflict (Goitein, 1989). The city of Jerusalem is held in reverence by all three of the monotheistic religions.

US and Russian policies and strategies in the Middle East: Iraq and Syria as a model

2019 ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Esraa Aladdin Noori ◽  
Nasser Zain AlAbidine Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Western World ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
East Region ◽  
Middle East Region

The Russian-American relations have undergone many stages of conflict and competition over cooperation that have left their mark on the international balance of power in the Middle East. The Iraqi and Syrian crises are a detailed development in the Middle East region. The Middle East region has allowed some regional and international conflicts to intensify, with the expansion of the geopolitical circle, which, if applied strategically to the Middle East region, covers the area between Afghanistan and East Asia, From the north to the Maghreb to the west and to the Sudan and the Greater Sahara to the south, its strategic importance will seem clear. It is the main lifeline of the Western world.

The New Islamic State

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Khosrokhavar
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Imagined Community ◽  
The West ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation

The creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) changed the nature of jihadism worldwide. For a few years (2014–2017) it exemplified the destructive capacity of jihadism and created a new utopia aimed at restoring the past greatness and glory of the former caliphate. It also attracted tens of thousands of young wannabe combatants of faith (mujahids, those who make jihad) toward Syria and Iraq from more than 100 countries. Its utopia was dual: not only re-creating the caliphate that would spread Islam all over the world but also creating a cohesive, imagined community (the neo-umma) that would restore patriarchal family and put an end to the crisis of modern society through an inflexible interpretation of shari‘a (Islamic laws and commandments). To achieve these goals, ISIS diversified its approach. It focused, in the West, on the rancor of the Muslim migrants’ sons and daughters, on exoticism, and on an imaginary dream world and, in the Middle East, on tribes and the Sunni/Shi‘a divide, particularly in the Iraqi and Syrian societies.

scholarly journals Malta X Anniversary and COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Emma Zajdela ◽  
Zafra Lerman
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Innovation Research ◽  
Science Diplomacy ◽  
Peace And Justice ◽  
Second Intifada ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Science Innovation

Abstract In December 2021, the Malta X Conference “Frontiers of Science: Innovation, Research and Education in the Middle East—A Bridge to Peace” will mark the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Malta Conferences. The first Malta Conference was held on the island of Malta in 2003 amidst the height of the Second Intifada. Since then, the Malta Conferences Foundation (MCF) has been a pioneer in using science diplomacy as a bridge to peace and sustainable development in the Middle East [1]. MCF uses science diplomacy to advance the following four UN Sustainable Development Goals: 1. Ensure inclusive and quality education for all (Goal 4) 2. Ensure access of Water and Sanitation for all (Goal 6) 3. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern Energy for all (Goal 7), and 4. Promote Peace and Justice, as well as inclusive societies (Goal 16). In 2016, MCF received the UN NOVUS Summit award for Goal 16: Peace and Justice [2]. The Summit was held in the UN General Assembly.

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