The Political Economy of Development in the Middle East
CHAPTER 3 The Political Economy of Development in the Middle East Melani Cammett and Ishac Diwan he Arab Spring has highlighted the profound economic grievances of citizens in Middle Eastern countries. Indistribute the ongoing uprisings, protestors have condemned their leaders for the lack of jobs, unequal distribution of Twealth, and crony capitalist networks acrossor the region, among other things. To be sure, the Arab protests and revolutions—like all social movements—have resulted from more than economic injustices, whether real or perceived. Economic factors, however, constitute a necessary component of any explanation for the Arab Spring. At a minimum, an understanding of the political economies of Middle East and North African (MENA) countriespost, suggests that it is difficult to separate the economic and political roots of the uprisings. Despite broad similarities in the economic challenges facing MENA countries, including high youth unemployment, limited opportunities for socioeconomic advancement, eroding systems of social protection, and underperforming econ- omies,1 copy,the precise nature and causes of economic problems vary from country to country. Thus, it is vital to establish a clear picture of cross-national variation in the political economies of the MENA countries. The Middle East encompasses notcountries with widely divergent economic structures and development trajectories. It is home to some of the richest countries in the world, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the other oil-rich monarchies of the Gulf, and some of the poorest, such as Yemen, where poverty is on par with some Do sub-Saharan African countries. In the UAE, oil wealth helped to fuel a massive real estate boom, including the construction of an indoor ski slope and hotels built on man-made islands in the shape of a palm tree.
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