Lebanese Army History and Development of Democracy

Unlike most countries, Lebanon lacks a unified national history reference book. Indeed, there is a controversy regarding the use of a unified Lebanese national history book in middle and high school. Many argue against including the Lebanese civil war in the Lebanese school curriculum; although, teaching the Lebanese civil war in school history books can result in many social, political, and economic benefits. Adverse effects are contrasted with consociationalizing effects resulting from the absence of a Lebanese school history book on Lebanese society and history. Regardless of what politicians say, Lebanese younger generations are ready to study the history of their national army and its effects on promoting stability and democracy despite surrounding turmoil.

The Economic Reform and Political Transition

The failures in the Arab development have strongly been attributed to a wave of protests that spread throughout most of the Arab region, popularly referred to as the “Arab Spring.” The Arab street seemed to have made clear that it is no longer willing to accept these models of reforms. To further understand the drivers and origins of the Arab Spring, this chapter contributes to investigating why Arab economies have failed to achieve sustained and inclusive development through evaluating the impact of socioeconomic reforms on economic performance. In other words, the chapter attempts to examine whether the performance of the region has been disappointing because ACs economies have lagged behind in terms of reforms or due to the reform programs themselves.

The Effect of the Arab Spring Revolution on the Yemeni Economy

The economic and humanitarian conditions of the Yemeni population have been deteriorating. The variable that affects the Yemeni economy is the foreign exchange rate of the Yemeni currency. In 2014, one US Dollar equaled to 240 Yemeni Ryal. In 2018, one US Dollar equals 700 Yemeni Ryal. The massive leap of the value of the Yemeni Ryal against the US Dollar, paired with the stabilization of the public sector occupation salaries, deeply affected the quality of life of the Yemeni citizen. Furthermore, the leap of the Yemeni Ryal value leads to the increase of the merchandise prices as well as the price of public services. The decrease of the value of the Yemeni Ryal against the US Dollar is one variable that is assisting the levels of poverty in Yemen. However, this chapter believes that economic mismanagement and the foreign exchange rate are essential variables that explain the increase of poverty levels in Yemen.

Political Governance and Sustainable Development

Economic development is one of the most controversial issues of economic history. The experience in development research of the past 50 years has demonstrated that development is possible but not inevitable. Governance over the last few decades has moved into the spotlight of development economists. The relationship between governance and development has been a highly debated topic. Therefore, the main purpose of this chapter is to critically examine the evidence on the governance-development relationship by providing systemic reviews of recent theoretical debate. This chapter is divided into three main sections. First, the chapter traces the concepts, elements, and theories of economic development, starting with Adam Smith and his classical school and finally recent theory on development which focus on institutions. The second section examines different perspectives of governance and identifies key governance indicators. The final section explores selected theories of governance and development emanating from several disciplines in the social sciences.

Transnational Protocol Authority for Economic Gains in Water Management

Throughout human history, struggles over access and control of water resources have been a root cause of tension and armed conflict. In Middle Eastern scheming for power, water is viewed as a strategic resource, quickly becoming the dominant resource issue. As water shortages are acute and laden with emotive conflictual tones, this is exacerbated by the lack of a mechanism short of war or external governance for allocating the resource. A strategy based on economic efficiency gains will lead to improved equity and will reinforce any peace prospect. Some of the most conflictual issues may thus be settled through a rational and equitable foundation of incentives and institutions. An evaluation of the potential welfare gains under constrained conditions provides an assessment of economic incentive to be derived from an existential gap in multinational water basins.

Financial Deficit in Lebanese Catholic Schools

Several Catholic schools have been shut down for good and several others are struggling to survive but they might just not, because they are facing a severe financial deficit and a strong decline in their revenues. This financial crisis facing Catholic schools in Lebanon is considered in this chapter in light of declining purchasing power of the Lebanese families over the last decade and the lack of parental confidence in Catholic school's primary mission. The first approach is quantitative: a questionnaire among school administrators and families to understand the tuition and purchasing power variation in the last decade. The second one is qualitative: four focus groups formed of several Lebanese families to try to assess their trust (or lack of trust) in Catholic schools. This new way to understand the reality of the declining profit of Catholic schools will benefit Catholic schools in general in Lebanon. It may enlighten the importance of their primary mission toward Lebanon.

Political Stability, Austerity Measures, External Imbalance, and Debt Impact on the Egyptian Economy

Economic difficulties manifested by the low GDP per capita, high unemployment, high rates of inflation, limited sources of foreign currency, mounting internal and external debts, and high subsidies have been facing Egypt for a long time. Despite the higher growth rates in Egypt in the first decade of the millennium, the persisting economic difficulties and political instability problems led to the 2011 uprising. Against expectations, the political instability, security issues, and unrest, which followed the uprising, and the world economic difficulties led to further deepening of the economic problems of Egypt due to the reduction in the limited sources of foreign currency and fragile economic structure. Egyptian dependence on income from remittances, the Suez Canal, and tourism as the main sources of foreign currency are inadequate. Egypt should diversify its economic activities by further engagements in the services sector, direct more effort to technological advances, and increase the added value to its products by empowering the large youth and educated population.

The Saga of Middle East Airlines (MEA) in War and in Peace

The pragmatic attitude of MEA management in meeting the crises that plagued its existence was only matched by a dogmatic determination that its planes must, under all circumstances, keep the immortal Cedar of Lebanon, which adorns its wings, continually and proudly roaming the skies. The fact that MEA has now recovered, survived, and prospered crowns its management decisions as best business practices. These practices include adaptability and change through organization transformation mode, using change interventions in its vision, structure, culture, skills, and procedures in many of its departments, such as the human resources, employee benefits, the recruitment and training departments affecting all of its employees. Events in open-system organizations such as MEA exist at equilibrium in a field of conflicting forces. Changes in the environment will consequently put pressure on such organizations causing a shift in the state of equilibrium.

Governance and Economic Growth in the Arab Region

The explanations for the failure of the Arab regimes to provide the kind of sound governance for their people that can deliver prosperity is undoubtedly a quite complex and nested issue. However, the most significant reasons have tended to be associated or rooted in the political legacy of dictatorship. This chapter attempts to contribute to the existing literature in three ways. First, it evaluates the governance system in Arab states not only from general view as most of the previous research but also from each aspect of institutions. Second, a comparative assessment is conducted between the Arab region to other developed and developing regions, and within the region itself to highlight the similarities and differences among the region's countries. Third, an examination is made of particular relationships concerning Arab governance, which has raised interesting issues in recent research.