scholarly journals Governing the covid-19 Pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa: Containment Measures as a Public Good

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Kevin Koehler ◽  
Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Political Costs ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Decisive Action

Abstract What determined how governments in the Middle East and North Africa reacted to the global covid-19 pandemic? We develop a theoretical argument based on the political costs of different policy options and assess its empirical relevance. Distinguishing between the immediate costs associated with decisive action and the potential costs of uncontrolled spread that are likely to accrue over the long term, we argue that leaders who have fewer incentives to provide public goods to stay in power will lock down later than their more constrained counterparts. We find empirical support for this argument in statistical analyses covering the 1 January – 30 November 2020 period using the Oxford covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) and our own original data on the timing of mosque closures and strict lockdowns across the region. We also illustrate our argument with a description of the response to the pandemic in Egypt.

China and the Revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 192-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall Peerenboom
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Turn On ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
The Government

The 2011 revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) led to considerable hope for some people that China would experience a similar political uprising, as well as considerable anxiety for the ruling regime. The government’s immediate response was to downplay the risk of a similar event occurring in China by distinguishing between China and MENA, while at the same time cracking down on activists and other potential sources of instability—including attempts to organize popular revolutionary protests in China. Although the government has so far managed to avoid a similar uprising, neither response has been entirely successful. Despite a number of significant diff erences between China and MENA countries, there are enough commonalities to justify concerns about political instability. Moreover, relying on repression alone is not a long-term solution to the justified demands of Chinese citizens for political reforms and social justice. Whether China will ultimately be able to avoid the fate of authoritarian regimes in MENA countries will turn on its ability to overcome a series of structural challenges while preventing sudden and unpredictable events, like those that gave rise to the Arab revolutions, from spinning out of control.

scholarly journals Long-Term Analysis of Atmospheric Energetics Components over the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 976
Author(s):  
Silas Michaelides
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Internal Energy ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Monthly Means ◽  
Seasonal Behavior ◽  
Long Term Changes

In this research, one aspect of the climate that is not commonly referred to, namely, the long-term changes in the components of the atmospheric energy, is investigated. In this respect, the changes in four energy forms are considered, namely, Kinetic Energy (KE), Thermal Energy (TE), Internal Energy (IE), Potential Energy (PE) and Latent Energy (LE); the Energy Conversion (EC) between Kinetic Energy and Potential plus Internal Energy (PIE) is also considered. The area considered in this long-term energetics analysis covers the entire Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and a large part of North Africa. This broad geographical area has been identified by many researchers as a hot spot of climate change. Analyses of climatic data have indeed shown that this region has been experiencing marked changes regarding several climatic variables. The present energetics analysis makes use of the ERA-Interim database for the period from 1979 to 2018. In this 40-year period, the long-term changes in the above energetics components are studied. The monthly means of daily means for all the above energy forms and Energy Conversion comprise the basis for the present research. The results are presented in the form of monthly means, annual means and spatial distributions of the energetics components. They show the dominant role of the subtropical jet-stream in the KE regime. During the study period, the tendency is for KE to decrease with time, with this decrease found to be more coherent in the last decade. The tendency for TE is to increase with time, with this increase being more pronounced in the most recent years, with the maximum in the annual mean in KE noted in 2015. The sum of Potential and Internal energies (PIE) and the sum of Potential, Internal and Latent energies (PILE) follow closely the patterns established for TE. In particular, the strong seasonal influence on the monthly means is evident with minima of PIE and PILE noted in winters, whereas, maxima are registered during summers. In addition, both PIE and PILE exhibit a tendency to increase with time in the 40-year period, with this increase being more firmly noted in the more recent years. Although local conversion from KE into PIE is notable, the area averaging of EC shows that the overall conversion is in the direction of increasing the PIE content of the area at the expense of the KE content. EC behaves rather erratically during the study period, with values ranging from 0.5 to 3.7 × 102 W m−2. Averaged over the study area, the Energy Conversion term operates in the direction of converting KE into PIE; it also lacks a seasonal behavior.

DIGITAL SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: NEW OPPORTUNITIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 190-196
Author(s):  
Maria V. Melanina ◽  
◽  
Viktoria S. Ponomareva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
East West

The article examines the features of the formation of the information society in the countries of the Arab East (West Asia and North Africa), justifies the need for the development of digitalization from the point of view of the long-term tasks facing these states in the field of sustainable development, including the need to diversify the economy, production and exports. It is established that the countries of the Arab world have intensified regional cooperation in this direction, and are currently at the stage of forming Arab digital content.

The Political Costs of Abusing Human Rights: International Cooperation in Extraordinary Rendition

2020 ◽  
pp. 002200272096743
Author(s):  
Rebecca Cordell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
National Security ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Matched Sample ◽  
Political Costs ◽  
The World ◽  
Electoral Defeat

From 2001 to 2005, over a quarter of all countries in the world cooperated in a secret rendition network that enabled the transfer of CIA terrorist suspects to secret detention sites. While governments in some states have not been punished for participating, others have incurred political costs, including electoral defeats. What explains variation in the political costs of participation in the post-9/11 extraordinary rendition program? I argue that left of center governments, particularly those in democracies, suffered greater political costs from being caught because of the perception that they are better at protecting civil liberties in the name of national security. I test the effect of party orientation on electoral defeat at the election following the revelation of participation in extraordinary rendition using a matched sample where the party in office at the time of participation remained the same. The analysis provides empirical support for my theoretical argument.

scholarly journals A Holistic Framework towards Developing a Climate-Smart Agri-Food System in the Middle East and North Africa: A Regional Dialogue and Synthesis

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2351
Author(s):  
Ajit Govind ◽  
Jacques Wery ◽  
Bezaiet Dessalegn ◽  
Amgad Elmahdi ◽  
Zewdie Bishaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Resource Mobilization ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Radical Transformation

Agriculture and agri-food systems of the highly vulnerable Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region needs a radical transformation under a changing climate. Based on a two-year effort, initially we developed a mega hypothesis on how to achieve climate-smart agri-food transformation in the region. In the study, we hypothesized that “Climate-Smart Lifts” implemented in the enabling environments can rapidly facilitate agri-food transformation in the region. In order to gather the stakeholders’ perception about this, we organized a collective conversation among ~400 stakeholders that represent various scales and sectors within the agriculture sector in MENA. These “listening cum learning consultations” were conducted through a survey followed by a series of webinars. The webinar discussions were strategically guided based on our hypothesis, the responses from the surveys and the regional needs. These discussions provided a forum to bring-out the stakeholders’ perspective on what new knowledge, partnerships, instruments and projects were needed in the MENA. The deliberation focused on the opportunities of public–private partnerships focusing in all the four major agroecosystems in MENA (irrigated, rainfed, rangelands, and deserts). In result, we developed an effective framework for strategic resource mobilization in the region, keeping in view the strong regional needs for climate actions and the requisite long-term commitments for the SDGs implementation.

How Severe is Water Stress in the Middle East and North Africa Region?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraf Rateb ◽  
Bridget R. Scanlon ◽  
Hannes Müller Schmied ◽  
Emad Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Natural Variability ◽  
Total Loss ◽  
Nile River ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Northern Iran ◽  
Grace Data

<p>Assessing freshwater availability in the Middle East (ME) and North Africa (MENA) is crucial to sustaining the life of about ~0.5 billion people who live in this region. Rapid population growth along with climate change imposes additional stresses and limiting the reserve of freshwater resources. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission its Follow On (FO) provide an essential tool for studying terrestrial total water storages (TWS) that can be linked to different key drivers. One approach to assessing water depletion is estimating the trend in TWS. Nevertheless, the reliability in the trend is compromised by natural variability (e.g., interannual variations).  In this study, we evaluated decadal trends of the GRACE TWS for the period (2002-2020) in the MENA region, including 26 countries. We also analyzed the historical variability of climate-driven TWS (excluding human intervention) for 116 years (yr) (1901-2016) based on the WaterGAP global hydrology model (WGHM) using the cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function approach. Natural variability in TWS includes the modulated seasonal cycle, interannual, decadal, and interdecadal variation. We compared the historical variability of TWS based on the WGHM model with the decadal trends in GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites (18.4 yr) based on two mascons (CSR and JPL) GRACE solutions.</p><p>Results show that the variability (e.g., standard deviation) in the climate-driven TWS from WGHM is ≤ 10 mm (1901 – 2016) throughout most of the region. Variability is higher in northern Iran, southern Turkey, western coast of the Persian Gulf, Nile River, northwestern Africa (coastal), and south of Sahara (e.g., Chad, Mali, and Sudan). Such regions with higher variability receive substantial annual precipitation or include a major surface water body (e.g., Nile river).</p><p>Decadal TWS trends are more highly negative throughout most ME, particularly most of Iran and Saudi Arabia, than in N Africa, except for Tunisia. Less severe or stable GRACE TWS trends are found in parts of the ME (Iraq, west Iran, southern Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman) and most of N Africa. In contrast, increasing GRACE TWS trends are dominant south of the Sahara (Chad, Sudan, Niger, and Mali) and in parts of the ME (Kuwait, W Yemen). The declining GRACE trends throughout much of the ME (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Arabian Peninsula) and parts of N Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria) are considered reliable because they highly exceed the historical simulated variability of climate-driven TWS (1901 – 2016). Trends in some other localized regions are insignificant relative to historical variability (ratio < 2) in west Iran, Nile river, northwest Egypt, Morocco, and Mauritania. The total loss of water in MENA based on the GRACE period (2002-2020) is about 760 Gt, with an annual trend of -41 Gt/year and R<sup>2</sup> 0.72. MENA's total loss represent~3.5% of the annual rate of global sea-level rise with a total of ~2 mm between 2002 and 2020. Combining GRACE data with long-term simulations of TWS helps interpret recent GRACE data within the context of long-term variability and allows us to isolate the human drive contribution to TWS trends.</p><p> </p>

Prospects of Destabilization Processes in the Middle East and North Africa: Before and After the Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-45
Author(s):  
Timur Khayrullin
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Interdisciplinary Nature ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Arab Spring

The work is the result of a conference held on December 2, 2020 by the Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the topic «Prospects for destabilization processes in the Middle East and North Africa: before and after the pandemic». The conference program consisted of four working sessions. The problems of the organized conference went beyond the issues stated for discussion and were of an interdisciplinary nature. In particular, several conflict points were identified that arose during the events of the Arab Spring and have not been resolved until today. First of all, these are the Syrian, Libyan and Yemeni crises. COVID-19 has not spared any region of the world. For obvious reasons, developing countries have been particularly hard hit. This includes the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The effects of years of poverty, authoritarianism, corruption and other serious long-term shortcomings have intensified against the backdrop of the pandemic. The partnership between the West and the MENA countries is more necessary than ever. The structure of the work consists of an introduction, which reflects the topic, problems, purpose, as well as the issues stated for discussion. Below are the short theses of the conference participants, representatives of the leading scientific and educational centers of Russia. At the end of the work, a conclusion is given, which summarizes the main results of the conference.

Conclusions

2019 ◽  
pp. 259-276
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Taliaferro
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Realist Theory ◽  
The Core ◽  
Ultimate Objective

Chapter 7 undertakes three tasks. First, it summarizes the core theoretical argument and the empirical support for the neoclassical realist theory, nuclear domino theory, credible sanctions theory, and security commitment theory hypotheses found inthe previous four chapters. The main take-away of the book is the following: The nonproliferation strategies the United States pursued toward vulnerable allies in the Middle East, East Asia, and South Asia were inextricably linked to broader Cold War dynamics, as tempered by each administration’s ability to mobilize support or defuse opposition in Congress. The ultimate objective of each administration, from Kennedy to H. W. Bush, was to contain the Soviet Union's influence in the Middle East and South Asia or to enlist China as an ally of convenience against the Soviets in East Asia. Second, Chapter 7 highlights several theoretical implications of this argument and avenues for future research. Third, the chapter briefly considers what neoclassical realist theory would suggest for some dilemmas in contemporary US foreign policy.

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