Commentary
Disillusioned with the West over Gaza, Arab countries are not only trading more with Russia; they are also more willing to criticize Kyiv.
Ruslan Suleymanov
REQUIRED IMAGE
Paper
The Political-Economic Conundrum: The Affinity of Economic and Political Reform in the Middle East and North Africa
By Eva Bellin
Published on Nov 9, 2004
Source: Carnegie Endowment
Summary
For nearly two decades the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has languished in economic stagnation and lassitude. At a time when the logic of market-driven reform and exportoriented growth has become nearly canonical worldwide, the MENA region has proven steadfastly unenthusiastic about reform, shutting itself out of the benefits of economic globalization and falling behind most other regions in economic development.
At the same time, the MENA region has distinguished itself by spurning another worldwide trend: democratization. As democracy has spread in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East has remained largely authoritarian, experiencing at most only mild liberalizing political reforms. This dual resistance to world trends is intriguing and resurrects the question of the relationship between political and economic reform. Is this dual resistance to reform coincidental? And what does this resistance say about whether and how Western policy makers and aid practitioners should try to link or sequence their efforts to promote political and economic reform in the region?
Click on link above for the full text of this Carnegie Paper.
About the Author
Eva Bellin is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Hunter College/City University of New York. An expert on the political economy of the Arab world, she is the author of Stalled Democracy: Capital, Labor, and the Paradox of State-Sponsored Development (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002). She was previously associate professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University.
A limited number of print copies are available.
Request a copy
About the Author
Eva Bellin
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center
- Once Neutral on the Ukraine War, Arab States Increasingly Favor Moscow
- Does Russia Have Enough Soldiers to Keep Waging War Against Ukraine?Commentary
The Russian army is not currently struggling to recruit new contract soldiers, though the number of people willing to go to war for money is dwindling.
Dmitry Kuznets
- Baku Proceeds With Caution as Ethnic Azeris Join Protests in Neighboring IranCommentary
Baku may allow radical nationalists to publicly discuss “reunification” with Azeri Iranians, but the president and key officials prefer not to comment publicly on the protests in Iran.
Bashir Kitachaev
- What Russia Will—and Won’t—Do for Its Embattled Ally IranCommentary
It’s one thing to export Russian helicopters to Iran to fight the insurgency, and it’s easy to imagine Moscow becoming a haven for fleeing Iranian leaders. But it’s very difficult to imagine Russian troops defending the Iranian regime on the ground.
Nikita Smagin
- Including Russia on the EU Financial Blacklist Will Hurt Ordinary People, Not the KremlinCommentary
The paradox of the European Commission’s decision is that the main victims will not be those it formally targets. Major Russian businesses associated with the Putin regime have long adapted to sanctions with the help of complex schemes involving third countries, offshore companies, and nonpublic entities.
Alexandra Prokopenko
