A survey of the innovation ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract. The UAE has long set itself apart from other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) by successfully reducing its dependence on oil exports and diversifying its economy to focus on industries such as tourism, media, technology, and real estate. The economy’s innovation capacity expanded when businesses and properties were allowed to be 100pc owned by non-nationals. However, the UAE must learn from its own experiences and those of other nations to further improve its innovation ecosystem, such as by tackling legacy rentier institutions and laws that prevent it from transforming into a fully modern sustainable economy.Keywords. Innovation; Ecosystem; United Arab Emirates.JEL. A10; B10; E10

The determinants, motives, and sociocultural impacts of Arab-aid to Subsaharan Africa

06.03.2018 tarihli ve 30352 sayılı Resmi Gazetede yayımlanan “Yükseköğretim Kanunu İle Bazı Kanun Ve Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamelerde Değişiklik Yapılması Hakkında Kanun” ile 18.06.2018 tarihli “Lisansüstü Tezlerin Elektronik Ortamda Toplanması, Düzenlenmesi ve Erişime Açılmasına İlişkin Yönerge” gereğince tam metin erişime açılmıştır.Dış ve insani yardım literatiründe Arap yardımının belirleyici faktörleri ve sebepleri çok tartışmalı bir konu olmuştur. Bu tez, Arap yardımını geniş bir perspektifte incelemeyi amaçlamamaktadır. Fakat Sahra-Altı Afrika'da neyin Arap yardımına neden olduğunu ve hangi faktörlerin Arap yardımı bağışçılarını harekete geçirdiğini incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu tez ayrıca bu destek ve insani yardımların yerel vatandaşların yaşamları üzerindeki sosyo-kültürel etkilerini de incelemektedir. Araştırmada belirtilen ana etkenler; İslam Birliği, Afro-Arap Dayanışması, Birleşmiş Milletler Toplantılarında Eşit Oylama Sistemi, İsrail ile Diplomatik İlişkiler vb. Araştırmada, Arap yardım kuruluşlarının insani hizmet verme yollarından birinin camiler inşa ederek ve SSA öğrecilerine yurtdışında okumaları için burs dağıtarak gerçekleştirildiği belirtilmektedir. Bu öğrenciler daha sonra vaaz vermek ve çeşitli camileri yönetmek için kendi ülkelerine dönerler. Yerel nüfus genel olarak bu bursiyerlerin öğretilerine göre davranır ve hareket eder. Ezici çoğunluğa sahip sünni-maliki ve sufizm kardeşliğine dayanan müslüman SSA ülkeleri gerçeği bakımından, bu vaazların verilmesi mezhepsel bölünmeye, radikalleşmeye ve bunun sonucu olarak çatışmaya ve terörizme sebep olmuştur. Bu radikalleşme, yoksulluk, işsizlik, güvenlik eksikliği, kamu fonlarının yanlış yönetilmesi ve okuryazarlık oranının düşüklüğüyle birleştiğinde terörizme otomatik olarak kapı açacaktır. Bu araştırmada kullanılan ana kuramsal çerçeve sosyal yapısalcılıktır ve argümanları analiz etmek için hem birincil hem de ikincil veri kaynakları kullanılmıştır. Konu edinilen petrol üreticisi Arap ülkeleri; Abu Dabi, Kuveyt ve Suudi Arabistan'dır. Örnek olay çalışmalarındaki ülkeler sırasıyla Gine, Mali ve Senegal'dir. Sonuç olarak Arap yardımı bağışçılarının yardım sebeplerinden birinin SSA'da İran etkisini kırmak olduğunu ortaya koydu. Bazı örnek olay çalışmaları gösterdi ki bu yardım politikası başladığından bu yana çeşitli bölgesel çatışmalar meydana geldi. Ayrıca sonuçlar, sorunun üstesinden gelmek için analitik bir yaklaşımın alınmaması durumunda önemli miktarda gencin terörist ve radikalleşmiş gruplara katılmaya istekli olduğunu göstermektedir.The determinants and motives of Arab-aid have been a very controversial and debatable topic in the literature of foreign aid and humanitarian assistance. This thesis does not intend to study the Arab-aid in a broad perspective, but to examine what determines Arab-aid giving and what factors motivate the Arab-aid donors in Sub-Saharan Africa. The thesis also study the socio-cultural impacts of this aid and humanitarian assistance on the lives of the local citizens. The main determinants mentioned in the study are; Islamic Unity, Afro-Arab Solidarity, Same Voting Pattern in the United Nations' meetings, and Diplomatic Relationship with Israel. It is stated in the study that one of the ways Arab-aid donors render humanitarian services is by building mosques and giving out scholarship to SSA students to study abroad. These students later return to their country of origin to preach and lead various mosques. The local population often behaves and acts according to the teachings of these scholars. With regards to the fact that most SSA predominantly Muslim countries belong to the Sunni-Maliki and Sufism brotherhood, this preaching has led to sectarian division, radicalization and the end result of this is conflict and terrorism. This radicalization coupled with poverty, unemployment, lack of security, mismanagement of public funds, and illiteracy will automatically open door to terrorism. The main theoretical framework used in this study is social constructivism and both primary and secondary data sources were used to analyze the arguments. The Arab oil producing countries that are mentioned are Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The countries in the case studies are Guinea, Mali and Senegal respectively. The end result proved one of our motives of Arab-aid donors, which is; to reduce the influence of Iran in SSA. Some case studies showed that several religious conflicts have happened since this aid giving policy started. The end result also shows that a significant amount of youths are willing to join terrorist and radicalized groups if an analytical approach is not taken to tackle the problem

The New Silk Roads' Impact on the Persian Gulf Region. Contextualizing China's Economic Ties and Diplomatic Relations with the Gulf States.

China’s rise and Middle Eastern insecurity are two dominating themes in international relations today. Yet, their relevance for each other is less discussed. The most important connection is China’s and the Persian Gulf region’s new economic interdependence – a part of Asia’s so-called New Silk Roads. Energy and non-energy trade between the Gulf and China has grown fast and is increasingly accompanied by investment flows in both directions, as well as closer diplomatic relations. The same has happened with regards to the ties between the Gulf and other Asian countries, like India. Nevertheless, it is still the US that underwrites basic regional stability with its military presence. So far, Asian countries, China included, have thus benefited by fee-riding on it. However, as China’s power increases and US appetite for Middle Eastern engagement decreases, it needs to be asked whether China (or anyone else) will one day inherit the American mantle and geo-politically dominate the Gulf. This PhD thesis seeks to answer that question via the help of three types of contextualization: Firstly, the use of the two most influential, but antagonistic IR theories – neo-liberal institutionalism and neo-realism – tests which is the more accurate for China’s Gulf role. It ultimately argues in favour of a neo-neo synthesis around the concept of regional hegemonic stablity. Secondly, a brief recap of historical analogies regarding previous external powers and their rivalries in the Gulf is provided. These range from early-modern actors, over the British Raj and to the American hegemon. Thirdly, the inter-regional context is provided by briefly outlining the Gulf states' relations with China's Asian competitors, Japan, South Korea, and India. In the second part of the thesis, China's New Silk Roads across Eurasia and the Gulf are analysed via a regional overview and then via two case studies, on China-Saudi Arabia relations and China-United Arab Emirates relations. The conclusion brings all these various threads together in order to undertake a comparison between current American, Chinese (and partly Indian) capabilities, and their future opportunities and risks. This is done via theoretical assessments as well as historical contextualization and discussion of useful analogies. Why is this research question important? On the one hand, the world economy’s hydrocarbon-dependence continues to rely on the Gulf’s huge reserves. On the other, the region offers a long history of geo-strategic centrality to world affairs and will likely also help determine into which direction global power flows in the 21st century

Economic Feasibility, General Economic Impact and Implications of a Free Trade Agreement Between the European Union and Georgia

This study of the feasibility, costs and benefits of a free trade agreement between the EU and Georgia was conducted from July 2007 to April 2008 under contrach with the European Commission. The first meeting in Brussels in September 2007 with staff members of Directorates-General for Trade, External Relations, Economic and Financial Affairs, Internal Market and Services, Competition, Enterprise and Industry proved indispensable in our work on this report. During mission to Tbilisi in October 2007 the consultations were held with a number of ministries, research institutes and business organizations. We greatly benefited from consultations with the Ministry of Economic Development, Standardization Office, UN Team Leader for Economic Development, State Minister for Reforms Coordination, Ministry of Energy, Office of Deputy State Minister for European and Euro Atlantic Integration, American Chamber of Commerce, Georgian Chamber of Commerce, IMF, World Bank, EBRD, GEPLAC – Georgian European Policy Legal Advice Centre, Wine Producers Association, Federation of Georgian Businessman. The European Commission Delegation to Georgia provided us with extensive information, consultation on key policy issues and organizational support, for which we are very grateful. Several authors contributed to this study. David Dyker is the author of the introductory section (chapter 2) and the analysis of services sectors (chapter 7). Michael Emerson is the author of section on regional integration scenarios (charter 3) and he also provided very valuable comments on all chapters in this study. Sveta Taran, Peter Holmes and Michael Gasiorek are the authors of chapter 4 employing the Sussex Framework to study the impact of a free trade agreement. Michael Gasiorek and Peter Holmes also provided valuable comments on the CGE modelling section. Evgeny Polyakov, Andrei Roudoi as well as Nino Chokheli and Giorgi Pertaia contributed to the chapter on the institutional and regulatory harmonization (chapter 5). The team from the Global Insight including Andre Jungmittag, Vicki Korchagin, Evgeny Polyakov and Andrei Roudoi supervised the implementation of the survey and completed the analysis of the survey results (chapter 6). Also the same team from Global Insight contributed chapter 10 on sensitive sectors. The implementation of the survey of NTBs was conducted by CASE-Transcaucasus under the supervision of Tamaz Asatiani. The analysis of FDI flows and their likely trends following an FTA was prepared by Malgorzata Jakubiak, while the estimation of the potential FDI flows was conducted by Alina Kudina (section 8.4). The CGE analysis (chapter 9) was written by Maryla Maliszewska, who also acted as the project manager and the editor of the study. Finally, conclusions are a collective work of all the authors. Sierz Naurodski and Elena Kozarzewska provided an excellent administrative support. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their cooperation, valuable contributions and comments.European Neighborhood Policy, free trade agreement, institutional harmonization, EU, Georgia.

Futures of a Complex World : Proceedings of the Conference “Futures of a Complex World”, 12–13 June 2017, Turku, Finland

”Futures of a Complex World” conference 2017 was a success by all standards. We got record amount of participants - 330 experts from 29 countries - with fascinating array of topics from future of agriculture to new modeling tools. This publication, based on papers presented in the conference, is a token of the fascinating variety of approaches we can adopt while penetrating the future with the tools of our research. As such, it also represents in a splendid way the complexity of our world, embedded with grand challenges as well as fascinating new developments. Complexity science itself proves us that we need particularly two capacities to thrive in the ever more complex world: on the one hand we need to build more resilience into our systems, on the other, we should create new capacities to transform, if necessary. Both aspects are well represented in the articles of this publications

Turkey after the start of negotiations with the European Union - foreign relations and the domestic situation, Part II. OSW Report, July 2008

The Centre for Eastern Studies has decided to embark on the project entitled 'Turkey after the start of negotiations with the European Union - foreign relations and the domestic situation' for two major reasons: the start of the accession negotiations between Ankara and the European Union in October 2005, and the significant part which Turkey plays in western Eurasia (the Caucasus, the countries in the basins of the Black and Caspian Seas, the Middle East and the Balkans) which We wish to present our readers our second report discussing Turkey's relations with Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia, the aspect of Turkish foreign policy regarding the Black Sea, and the role of Turkey as a transit country for oil and gas from the Middle East and the Caspian regions. The evaluation of Turkey's standpoint and potential regarding the aforementioned issues is especially important, considering the tensions existing in Turkey's relations with the EU and the USA, as well as the West's increasing engagement in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Black Sea regions. In this process, Ankara may play the role of a significant ally for the West. However, it may just as readily play the role of its rival, who could co-operate with other countries and may seriously frustrate the implementation of the EU and US' goals. The Report was developed between autumn 2006 and autumn 2007, over which time the project participants searched for publicly available documents in Poland, Turkey, EU countries and the USA, and went on five research trips to Central Asia, Russia, Turkey and Caucasus, where they met local analysts, officials and researchers

Academic Aspect of the Leather Industry: An Interpretation from the Perspective of Business Science

In the leather industry, a production process that is the subject of many different disciplines is dominant. Many studies on these branches of science have examined the sector in detail in terms of production. On the other hand, studies dealing with the sector in terms of business administration department and sub-disciplines are not common. In this study, academic publications examining the relationship between the leather industry and the business administration department are the subjects. 98 scientific studies obtained after the search in the Web of Science database were examined in terms of the form of publication, the year of publication, the country where the publication was made and the sub-disciplines of the business department

Proceedings of 2012 Annual Meeting of the Academy of International Business-US North East Chapter: Business Without Borders

Proceedings of the 2012 Academy of International Business-US North East Chapter Fairfield, Connecticut, October 11-13, 2012. Business Without Borders. Host, John F. Welch College of Business, Sacred Heart University. Editor, Jang\u27an Tang. AIB-NE 2012 Conference Co-Chairs, Khawaja Mamun, Ph.D. and Jang\u27an Tang

Japan’s Relations with Muslim Asia: Trans-Continental Normativity and Policy

In 2006, Japanese Foreign Minister Asō Tarō outlined a new pillar of Japan’s foreign policy across Asia he called the ‘Arc of Freedom and Prosperity.’ The Arc would become the most lucid case for values-based diplomacy elaborated by Tokyo in the postwar era. It is a significant change from what was both a constrained and myopic approach for a state of such global economic influence and substantial diplomatic potential. In practice, however, is Japan’s values-based diplomacy actually working? How is Tokyo grappling with reconceptualizing an Asia inclusive of Muslim societies in a time when the global metanarrative is to protect against Islam? Emphasis in this project is placed on Tokyo’s foreign policy with Muslim states along this Arc. The key research question in this project is: “How does Japan’s new conceptualization of Asia reconcile with its securitization of Islam?” Based on the two variables set in the research question, the project is divided into two parts: ‘Conceptualization,’ and ‘Strategy.’ ‘Conceptualization’ seeks to grasp Japan’s vision for Asia, and its role in the region. ‘Strategy’ builds on that, and surveys Japan’s relations with Muslim Asia through five facets of interactions. This project relies heavily on three types of data sources: statements from political elites, influential think tanks in Japan, and leading Japanese academic scholars. Of particular value among statements from political elites are those from the Prime Minister’s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Primary sources in the Japanese language and intended for Japanese readers are used as a research tool. Content analysis software is utilized to analyze and code texts within cases from these sources to reinforce the strength of the arguments made. By applying typological theory to refine conclusions from observations, this project shows that Japan’s securitization of Islam is distinct from Western, Russia, or Chinese securitization. Moreover, it demonstrates four concurrent views of Islam in Asia evident in Japan’s foreign policy and strategy

Beyond Remittances: The Role of Diaspora in Poverty Reduction in Their Countries of Origin.

This paper analyzes the impact of established Diaspora on the reduction of poverty, and identifies ways in which policy interventions, especially from donors of official development assistance, might strengthen that impact. The new policy interest in Diasporas reflects a broader concern with globalization, and specifically the very recent appreciation of the volume of remittances to developing countries by emigrant workers and their descendents. Remittances, however, are far from being the only vehicle for Diaspora influence on the incidence of poverty in their home countries