Review essay: Possibilities of Positive Social Action in the Middle East - A Re-Reading of the History of Social Policy in the Region

Review: 1) JANINE A. CLARK, Islam, Charity and Activism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. 256 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–2532–1626–7. 2) RIADEL EL GHONEMY, Affluence and Poverty in the Middle East. London: Routledge, 1998. 324 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–4151–0033–6. 3) CLEMENT HENRY AND ROBERT SPRINGBORG, Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 280 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–5216–2312–4. 4) STEPHEN P. HEYNEMAN (ed.), Islam and Social Policy. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004. 218 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–8265–1447–9. 5) MASSOUD KARSHENAS AND VALENTINE M. MOGHADAM (eds), Social Policy in the Middle East: Economic, Political and Gender Dynamics. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006. 288 pp. ISBN–13: 978–1–4039–4165–7. 6) SHAHRA RAZAVI AND SHIREEN HASSIM (eds), Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2006. 355 pp. ISBN–13: 978–1–4039–9630–5. 7) MAHMOUD SADRI AND AHMED SADRI (eds), Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam, Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 256 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–1951–5820–5. 8) BEHDAD SOHRAB AND FARHAD NOMANI, Islam and the Everyday World. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. 240 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–4153–6823–0. 9) QUINTAN WIKTOROWICZ (ed.), Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003. 320 pp. ISBN–13: 978–0–2532–1621–2

Political attitudes and participation among young Arab workers:a comparison of formal and informal workers in five Arab countries

Informal employment has long been a feature of Arab economies and as such, better understanding of the political participation of informal workers is important, especially given their involvement in social uprisings, such as during the Arab Spring in 2011. This paper tests for the first time the impact of informality of labour on political participation in five Arab countries: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. By using the European Union’s 2015–2016 SAHWA survey and logistic regression models, we are able to show evidence of an association between political participation and informality through the negative impact of the latter on four indicators of political participation: affiliation to political parties/movements; frequency of participation in political activities; frequency of speaking about politics; and voting in elections. Furthermore, the paper confirms that age, gender and education are significant predictors of political participation in the countries analysed. We argue that these findings have relevant policy implications

Sociology in the 21st Century: Reminiscence and Redefinition

No abstract available

Comparison of Ephedrine Versus Lidocaine in Reducing the Frequency of Pain on Propofol Injection during Elective Surgeries

Background: To compare the ephedrine with lidocaine for reducing frequency of pain on propofol injection during elective surgeries.Methods: In this randomized controlled trial 80 patients were observed by taking 40 patients in each group, i.e. group A: ephedrine group and group B:lidocaine group. Patients with ASA–I (normal healthy patient), II (mild systemic disease with no functional limitation) aging between 20 and 40 years and opting for elective surgical procedures were included. The pain intensity was classified in four levels from no pain to severe pain. The frequencies of pain intensity were recorded during the injection period before the loss of consciousness according to the verbal rating scale (VRS) explained to patients at the preoperative visit. Chi square test was used to compare the frequency of pain in two groups, where p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Effect modifiers i.e. the age, gender and ASA were controlled by stratification. The post stratification Chi-square test was applied keeping the p-value <0.05 as significant.Results: In Group A, 35% complained of severe pain, 42.5% had moderate pain, 22.5% had mild pain and no patients reported absence of pain as per our operational definition. In Group B 47.5% reported no pain during propofol injection, 40% complained of mild pain, 12.5% had moderate and no patients reported severe pain. The p-value is 0.00.Conclusion: Pretreatment with lidocaine resulted in significantly better pain control during propofol infusion than pretreatment with ephedrin

Promoting Regional Health Cooperation: The South Asian Public Health Forum

One of the ways in which health professionals can help to improve the poor state of public health in South Asia is through regional cooperation and collaboration