Political Islam and Europe - Views from the Arab Mediterranean states and Turkey. CEPS Working Document, No. 264, 10 April 2007

The social, political and economic power of moderate Middle East and North African Islamist movements has been growing for a generation or so. The question of how to deal with Islamists who reject violence, embrace democracy and outperform their competitors at the polls has therefore become a central concern not only of incumbent Middle East elites, but also of interested foreign actors such as the EU and US. Robert Springborg sees the need for the EU to clarify its policies towards the MENA region and Muslim democrats within it. The present lack of EU policies on engaging with moderate Islamists leads them to be at best curious about the EU and at worse to be suspicious of it. Engagement might itself help to contribute to policy formation in this important area, and serve as a vehicle to disseminate information about relevant EU policies

Volume 2: Development Models in Muslim Contexts : Chinese, \u27Islamic\u27 and Neo-liberal Alternatives

Recent discussions of the \u27Chinese economic development model\u27, the emergence of an alternative \u27Muslim model\u27 over the past quarter century and the faltering globalisation of the \u27Washington Consensus\u27 all point to the need to investigate more systematically the nature of these models and their competitive attractions. This is especially the case in the Muslim world which both spans different economic and geographic categories and is itself the progenitor of a development model. The \u27Chinese model\u27 has attracted the greatest attention in step with that country\u27s phenomenal growth and therefore provides the primary focus for this book. This volume examines the characteristics of this model and its reception in two major regions of the world - Africa and Latin America. It also investigates the current competition over development models across Muslim contexts. The question of which model or models, if any, will guide development in Muslim majority countries is vital not only for them, but for the world as a whole. This is the first political economy study to address this vital question as well as the closely related issue of the centrality of governance to development.https://ecommons.aku.edu/uk_ismc_series_emc/1003/thumbnail.jp

GCC Countries as "Rentier States" Revisited, a Book Review by by Robert Springbord of The Gulf Region: Economic Development and Diversification (4 vols.), ed. by Giaccomo Luciani, Steffen Hertog, Eckart Woertz, and Richard Youngs

Reviewed: The Gulf Region: Economic Development and Diversification (4 vols.), ed. by Giaccomo Luciani, Steffen Hertog, Eckart Woertz, and Richard Youngs. Berlin: Gerlach Press, 2012.Resources Blessed: Diversification and the Gulf Development Model (Vol. 1), ed. by Giacomo Luciani.National Employment, Migration and Education in the GCC (Vol. 2), ed. by Steffen Hertog.GCC Financial Markets: The World’s New Money Centers (Vol. 3), ed. by Eckert Woertz.The GCC in the Global Economy (Vol. 4), ed. by Richard Youngs.The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.3751/67.2.3Giacomo Luciani, the senior editor of this four volume set, along with Hazem Beblawi laid the conceptual foundations for Arab rentier states a quarter of a century ago.1 He and his team of some 40 researchers have now revisited this concept as part of a broader effort to describe and analyze the political economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. The very title of the flagship volume edited by Luciani, Resources Blessed: Diversification and the Gulf Development Model, suggests revision to the prevailing, Luciani-influenced orthodoxy that the resource curse and its attendant rentierism are inherently inconsistent with economic diversification and development. Revisionism implied by the title is indeed borne out as the editor and authors present a largely positive account of the economic accomplishments and future of the GCC states, distancing themselves, sometimes explicitly, not only from negative prognostications for rentier states, but even from the present applicability of the concept itself to the “mothers” of all rentier states, those that comprise the GCC

A Tunisian Solution for Egypt's Military: Why Egypt's Military Will Not Be Able to Govern

The popular uprisings that swept Egypt and Tunisia this winter were remarkably similar, but their immediate outcomes have been quite different. In Tunisia, civilian politicians and technocrats quickly took the helm of the country in the wake of the revolution. In Egypt, by contrast, the military’s Supreme Council is slated to rule the nation for six months, and whether it stays in power or returns to the barracks, it will surely try to ensure that civilians do not subordinate its role in politics. Given the nature and history of the two countries’ militaries, this divergence is not surprising. Still, Egypt’s military may not have the stranglehold on power that many think, and a real Tunisian solution -- a civilian government free of military involvement -- could form in Egypt as well

Protest against a hybrid state: words without meaning?

Cairo Papers in Social Science first appeared in 1977, the year that witnessed the famous bread riots in Egypt. As the journal celebrates its 30th anniversary, Egypt also seems to be at a crossroads, as new forms of protest have been developing with the aim of challenging the existing order and inducing change. This issue includes a collection of papers delivered at Cairo Papers 30th Anniversary Symposium that deal with the different protest groups that have been active in Egypt in the last three decades, including the Kefaya movement, the Negm-Imam phenomenon, the feminist movement, Coptic activism, and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as workers\u27 protests, rural resistance, and the judges\u27 call for reform. Cairo Papers Vol. 29, No. 2/4https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/2092/thumbnail.jp

Egypt’s Economic Transition: Challenges and Prospects

Egypt faces the Herculean task of simultaneously rebuilding its polity and economy and doing so in the absence of broad social consensus on either. State institutions underpinning both, ranging from the legislative and judicial branches to executive agencies with direct responsibility for economic management require substantial if not total overhauls. It is only the bedrock of the deep state that remains firmly in place, but that solid foundation is an inappropriate one upon which to construct a competitive and inclusive political economy. Any regime, in short, would face profound challenges in either creating a ‘second republic’ or re-invigorating the first, now badly discredited one. The military regime that seized power in July 2013, faces particularly intense ones not only because of the means by which it assumed power, but also because of its very nature. Military regimes are out of step with the times. One of the reasons they are is that they fail to deliver development, thereby suggesting that militaries are inherently incapable of devising and implementing successful economic models. Whether the Egyptian one might differ in this regard is the question this paper addresses. It does so by providing a brief overview of the broad political and economic challenges Egypt faces, followed by more detailed investigations of specific challenges in the areas of fiscal management, fostering a capable business elite, improving the capabilities and performance of the labor force, and generating growth in particular sectors. An effort is then made to foretell the ‘Sisinomic’ model likely to be crafted to meet these and other challenges, followed by an evaluation of its prospects for success

The US Response to the Arab Uprising: Leadership Missing

The article of record as published may be found at https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep09872.7From the Report "Re-thinking Western Policies in Light of the Arab Uprising", edited by Riccardo Alcaro and Miguel Haubrich-Seco (2012)This publication has been generously supported by the Compagnia di San Paolo, the Ro- bert Bosch Stiftung, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, NATO Allied Command Operations, and Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Political Structural Adjustment in Egypt: A Precondition for Rapid Economic Growth?

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020