scholarly journals Survey Research in the Arab World: Challenges and Opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (03) ◽  
pp. 535-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay J. Benstead
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Country ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
National Data ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Cross National

ABSTRACTSurvey research has expanded in the Arab world since the 1980s. The Arab Spring marked a watershed when surveying became possible in Tunisia and Libya, and researchers added additional questions needed to answer theoretical and policy questions. Almost every Arab country now is included in the Arab Barometer or World Values Survey. Yet, some scholars express the view that the Arab survey context is more challenging than that of other regions or that respondents will not answer honestly, due to authoritarianism. I argue that this position reflects biases that assume “Arab exceptionalism” more than fair and objective assessments of data quality. Based on cross-national data analysis, I found evidence of systematically missing data in all regions and political regimes globally. These challenges and the increasing openness of some Arab countries to survey research should spur studies on the data-collection process in the Middle East and beyond.

Survey Research in the Arab World

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay J. Benstead
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Methodological Research ◽  
Survey Error ◽  
The Arab Spring

Since the first surveys were conducted there in the late 1980s, survey research has expanded rapidly in the Arab world. Almost every country in the region is now included in the Arab Barometer, Afrobarometer, or World Values Survey. Moreover, the Arab spring marked a watershed, with the inclusion of Tunisia and Libya and addition of many topics, such as voting behavior, that were previously considered too sensitive. As a result, political scientists have dozens of largely untapped data sets to answer theoretical and policy questions. To make progress toward measuring and reducing total survey error, discussion is needed about quality issues, such as high rates of missingness and sampling challenges. Ongoing attention to ethics is also critical. This chapter discusses these developments and frames a substantive and methodological research agenda for improving data quality and survey practice in the Arab world.

scholarly journals Constitutional Matters: Women, State, Law, and Constitutions in the Aftermath of the Arab Uprisings

1970 ◽  
pp. 8-17
Author(s):  
Suad Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Country ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Arab Spring

Following the Arab Spring in 2011, constitutions and constitutional reforms were everywhere in the air in the Arab world. Constitutional matters were a must in critical conversations on women and gender rights in the Arab world at that historic moment. Egypt has reworked its constitution more than once since 2011. Constitutional debates mixed with debates about law and family codes were engaging diverse publics in Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia — and always in Lebanon — as well as many other Arab countries. Regardless of whether in a particular Arab country constitutions are changing or even the possibility of constitutional change is being discussed, it remains the case that constitutions are useful projects to think with and to think through for understanding gender, rights, and other key social issues.

Female labour participation and pay equity in Arab countries: commonalities and differences

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuf M. Sidani ◽  
Tony Feghali
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Country ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Labour Participation

While there is a common belief that female labour indicators in Arab countries demonstrate a problematic situation, little is understood about the varieties within countries in that region. This paper attempts to draw a segmentation of the Arab world to show how different countries differ in this regard. It looks at two specific measures: the level of female participation as a percentage of male participation (FPM), and the female earned income to male income (FIM). Statistics from 20 Arab countries generated four clusters in which those countries are classified. Female labour indicators in most countries in the Arab world show similar patterns found in other countries in their stage of development. This confirms earlier research that indicates that women's labour participation decreases as societies move away from agriculture into manufacturing, services and industry. Only four countries are identified as outliers whose labour indicators can be understood within the context of the cultural values that dominate. The implications are discussed and individual research on female labour within each Arab country is invited.

«Arab Spring»: Transformation of Political Paradigm in Context of International Relations

2012 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
L. Fituni
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
World Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Relationship

The author presents his own original conception of the 2011 Arab upheavals. First, he tries to find parallels between the Arab Spring and the 19th century European Spring of Peoples. Second, he dwells on the idea of three types of transition in the Arab World: economic, demographic, and ideological. Third, he reflects on the issues of democracy and autocracy in the Arab countries emphasizing the role of youth. Fourth, he puts forward some new ideas as regards the relationship between Europe and the Arab World, offering such terms as “democratic internationalism” and “young democratic safety belt” in the Mediterranean region.

Between Mao and Gandhi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ches Thurber
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Relational Theory ◽  
New Wave ◽  
National Data ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nonviolent Action ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Ability And Willingness ◽  
Cross National

From Eastern Europe to South Africa to the Arab Spring, nonviolent action has proven capable of overthrowing autocratic regimes and bringing about revolutionary political change. How do dissidents come to embrace a nonviolent strategy in the first place? Why do others rule it out in favor of taking up arms? Despite a new wave of attention to the effectiveness and global impact of nonviolent movements, our understanding of their origins and trajectories remains limited. Drawing on cases from Nepal, Syria, India and South Africa, as well as global cross-national data, this book details the processes through which challenger organizations come to embrace or reject civil resistance as a means of capturing state power. It develops a relational theory, showing how the social ties that underpin challenger organizations shape their ability and willingness to attempt regime change using nonviolent means alone.

scholarly journals Summary Report of the Round Table on Problems of Professional Translation in the Arab/Muslim World and the Contribution of Technology

1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-109
Author(s):  
Samia Berrada
Keyword(s):  
Machine Translation ◽  
Arab World ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Arab Country ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Arab Muslim ◽  
The Status

Under the sponsorship of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) and the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a Round Table on the Problems of Professional Translation in the Arab World and the Contribution of Technology was held from June 1 to 3, 1989 at the King Fahd Advanced School for Translation in Tangier, Morocco. This was a successful meeting both because of the number and the quality of participants, all of whom were professionals and specialists in translation, terminologists and machine translation researchers from European and Arab countries. It was a unique occurrence of its kind, as President of FIT Mme Anna Lilova pointed out in the opening session, because it is the first time that the Federation has organized such a meeting in an Arab country. Presentations dealt with three main topics, a day being devoted to each: (1) the status of the translator in the Arab countries; (2) the translator and MAT (machine­assisted translation); and (3) terminology work in the Arab countries.In Arab countries translation is a tradition going back to the Abbasids, but even today it still does not have specific guidelines. Mr. Amid from UNESCO stressed the need for legislation, with the help of translation institutions, which would protect the rights of the translator. Mr. Rene Haeseryn, Secretary-General of FIT, in his presentation on "The FIT and its Main Role in the World Translation Movement;' pointed out the humanist goals of the Federation and its role in the protection of translators' rights. "We should protect the translators' rights, but also prepare him for the main choices of the future" was the primary concern which emerged from these working meetings. "Translation is a profession which presupposes training according to a well-thought out methodology" was the theme of various comtributions from the floor. Therefore, we should develop appropriate training suited to the needs and harmonize it in the various Arab countries. Also,· thanks to new technology, the profession of translation is now seeing its image change. The presentation by Veronica Lawson (FIT) of various systems (machine translation with or without human assistance) enabled us to gauge the progress made. But is the translator of Arabic ready to take up the challenge of machine translation? ...

scholarly journals From Practices to Teaching: Challenges and Opportunities of Public Administration in the Arab World

2019 ◽  
pp. 74-98
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Governmental Institutions

This paper examines the challenges facing PA education, considering the colonial heritage of the region. Over the past decade, researchers have paid attention to Public Administration (PA) and its education in the Middle East. Many explored the history of the PA in the region and the quality of PA programs within high education institutes. In the context of the developmental challenges that face the current generation in the region, and under the current political circumstances which have negative consequences on PA, many voices call for a reliable and high-quality PA education and good governance, which includes accountability, transparency, democracy, and other concepts related to bureaucratic machinery within the public institutions. There is therefore a need to examine what governmental institutions, together with academic institutions in the Arab States, are doing to make significant progress in this field. The paper examines the main challenges facing PA education in Arab countries.

scholarly journals The Arab Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings, 2nd ed. (Mark L. Haas and David W. Lesch (eds.))

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-101
Author(s):  
Nazar Ul Islam Wani
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Political Justice ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Multiple Actors

The Arab Spring was a series of protests which took place in Arab countries against longstanding dictatorial regimes, because of the latter’s inability or refusal to deliver socio-economic and political justice to the common 99 masses. Protests spread like fire and made an impact not only on the governance of the Arab world but also internationally, by involving big players like Russia and the United States of America. Yet these events were intensely complicated, with multiple actors and layers of history involved in each country. The book under review here is one prodigious effort to understand the Arab Spring, considering causes and effects of the uprisings. Structurally, the book is divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of seven chapters, deals with the uprisings in Arab countries; part two, consisting of six chapters, discusses the impact of the Arab Spring on the non-Arab world and their core interests related to the uprisings. 

scholarly journals Facebook Utilization and Arab Spring Movement: A Study among Yemeni Youth

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan Abdulrahman Naef Farhan ◽  
P.A. Varghese
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Revolutionary Movement ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Impact

The Arab Spring is a popular term used to describe the revolutionary movement of demonstrations and protests, and civil wars in the Arab world that began on December 18, 2010 in Tunisia and spread in the whole Arab countries. Tunisia and Egypt became the center of this revolution, and then it moved to include Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Western Sahara and Palestine. Yemeni youth’s revolution movement began to change the system through mobilization of people and social action. This paper focuses on the importance of Facebook in the revolution and how the Yemeni youth used Facebook to attract more supporters and keep the spirit up. The present paper reports the impact of Facebook in nurturing political revolution in Yemen analyzing the data achieved by survey method.Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 5, Issue-1: 5-9

A Delicate Balancing Act

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-448
Author(s):  
Amaney Jamal ◽  
Irfan Nooruddin
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
National Data ◽  
Variable Model ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Instrumental Variable Model ◽  
Cross National

Abstract Historically Arab regimes have played critical roles in securing women’s rights in their societies. Yet regimes remain concerned about domestic, especially Islamist and traditionalist, reactions to women’s rights. When regimes feel they can overcome this resistance they honor commitments to women’s rights. When they fear more domestic opposition they renege. This article argues that Arab regimes are less likely to resist domestic opposition to women’s rights when US military presence increases in the region. The authors test the argument using cross-national data including an original expert-coder scale of Islamist power, and estimate an instrumental variable model to allay concerns of endogeneity. A case study of Jordan explicates their causal argument. The results are robust to different measures of Islamist strength and to different estimation techniques. Understanding this unintended consequence of US military deployments to the Arab world is important for future analysis of female empowerment in the Arab world.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document