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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the most water scarce region in the world.This report uses an economics lens to understand the institutions through which scarce resources are allocated and managed across competing needs.

We examine the institutional quality (IQ) and foreign direct investment (FDI) nexus across 10 Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries from 1990 to 2018 based on disaggregated FDI data in the primary (extractive), secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (service) sectors. There is prima facie evidence that IQ plays an important role in determining FDI at the aggregate level in the MENA region. Once we use sectoral FDI flows data, IQ is irrelevant to FDI inflows into the primary sector. Four aspects of IQ: rule of law index, accountability index, property rights and the aggregate IQ index, however, significantly impact secondary and tertiary FDI inflows into the MENA region, while corruption only plays a significant part in reducing FDI in the tertiary sector. Improving IQ is thus key to attracting more manufacturing and service sector FDI.

The resilience of social protection systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faced significant challenges due to COVID-19. Governments and non-governmental organizations responded by expanding their social safety nets (SSNs) and/or initiating new cash transfer programs. We evaluated the impact of SSNs on mitigating food insecurity in MENA during COVID-19. This evaluation is based on data from the COVID-19 MENA Monitor Household (CMMHH) survey, a panel phone survey conducted across four MENA countries (Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco) from November 2020 to June 2021. Using a staggered difference-in-difference (DD) technique, we found that those who received non-usual government support in Tunisia were 15 percentage points (ppts) less likely to be unable to buy their typical amount of food due to price increases than those who did not receive support. Similar associations were not observed in Egypt, Jordan, or Morocco. As for non-governmental organizations, we found that individuals who received non-usual support in Morocco and Jordan were 22 and 15 ppts less likely to report being unable to buy their typical amount of food due to decreased income, respectively. Our estimates also showed that government SSNs helped mitigate the negative effect of food insecurity on resorting to adverse coping strategies during COVID-19, especially selling assets.

Ruling But Not Governing highlights the critical role that the military plays in the stability of the Egyptian, Algerian, and, until recently, Turkish political systems. This in-depth study demonstrates that while the soldiers and materiel of Middle Eastern militaries form the obvious outer perimeter of regime protection, it is actually the less apparent, multilayered institutional legacies of military domination that play the decisive role in regime maintenance. Steven A. Cook uncovers the complex and nuanced character of the military's interest in maintaining a facade of democracy. He explores how an authoritarian elite hijack seemingly democratic practices such as elections, multiparty politics, and a relatively freer press as part of a strategy to ensure the durability of authoritarian systems. Using Turkey's recent reforms as a point of departure, the study also explores ways external political actors can improve the likelihood of political change in Egypt and Algeria. Ruling But Not Governing provides valuable insight into the political dynamics that perpetuate authoritarian regimes and offers novel ways to promote democratic change.

The Middle East and North Africa Region encapsulates many of the issues surrounding water and human mobility. It is the most water-scarce region in the world and is experiencing unprecedented levels of forced displacement. Ebb and Flow: Volume 2. Water in the Shadow of Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa examines the links between water risks (harmful outcomes related to water, from droughts and floods to lack of sanitation), conflict, and forced displacement. It aims to better explain how to address the vulnerabilities of forcibly displaced persons and their host communities, and to identify water policy and investment responses. Contrary to common belief, the report finds that the evidence linking water risks with conflict and forced displacement in the region is not unequivocal. Water risks are more frequently related to cooperation than to conflict at both domestic and international levels. But while conflict is not necessarily a consequence of water risks, the reverse is a real and concerning phenomenon: conflict amplifies water risks. Since 2011, there have been at least 180 instances of intentional targeting of water infrastructure in conflicts in Gaza, Libya, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Republic of Yemen. Forcibly displaced persons and their host communities face myriad water risks. Access to safe drinking water is a daily struggle for millions of forcibly displaced Iraqis, Libyans, Palestinians, Syrians, Yemenis, and international migrants in the region, heightening public health risks. Tanker trucks often help fill the gap; however, significant issues of water quality, reliability, and affordability remain. Host communities also face localized declines in water availability and quality as well as unplanned burdens on water services following the arrival of forcibly displaced persons. The reality of protracted forced displacement requires a shift from humanitarian support toward a development approach for water security, including structured yet flexible planning to deliver water services and sustain water resources for forcibly displaced persons and their host communities

For thousands of years, migration has been a source of social and economic well-being for people living on different shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Whether through higher earnings for migrants, access to labor for receiving countries, or remittances for sending communities, migration has been an important driver of development in the Mediterranean region. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has severely disrupted this complex web of movements, raising questions about whether migration will continue to be an important driver of the region's well-being. As time passed, it became clear that the drivers of migration are so strong that mobility restrictions can only reduce movements, not halt them entirely. Building Resilient Migration Systems in the Mediterranean Region: Lessons from COVID-19 presents evidence on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on mobility in the region to inform policy responses that can help countries restart migration safely and better respond to future shocks. While some of the challenges that emerged during the pandemic are specific to public health crises, others are common to different types of shocks, including those related to economic, conflict, or climate-related factors. To inform this reform process, this book suggests a set of actions that can help Mediterranean countries to maximize the benefits of migration for all people living in the region, while at the same time ensuring the sustainability of migration flows. As a whole, these proposed policy actions point to a vision of migration resilience that, even during crises, can address key labor shortages, keep both migrant and native populations safer, sustain household incomes, and ameliorate blows to economic growth. The COVID-19 pandemic has created momentum for policy reforms. Whether this crisis can illuminate the way toward better adapting migration systems to future crises will depend on learning its lessons

Pre-pandemic the Middle East and North Africa was the only region in the world experiencing increases in poverty and declines in life satisfaction. This Report investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the welfare of individuals and households in the region, by relying on phone surveys and micro-simulation exercises.

The international politics of the Middle East fills a major gap in the field of middle eastern political studies by combining international relations theory with concrete case studies. It will be of immense benefit to students of middle eastern politics, international relations and comparative politics. The book begins with an overview of the rules and features of the middle east regional system - the arena in which the local states, including Egypt, Turkey, Israrel and Arab states od Syria, Jordan and Iraq, operate. It goes on to analyse foreign policy-making in key states, illustrating how systematic determinants contrain this policy-making, and how these contraints are dealt with in distinctive ways depending on particular domsetic features of the individual states. Finally, the book goes on to look at the outcomes of state policies by examining several major conflicts including the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Gulf War, and the system of regional alignment. The book assesses the impact of international pentrartion in the region, including the hsitorica reasons behind the formation of the regional state system. It also analyses the continued role of the external great powers, such as the United States and the former Soviet Union and explains the process by which the region has besome incorporated into the global capitalist market.

Water has always been a source of risks and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Yet rapidly changing socioeconomic, political, and environmental conditions make water security a different, and more urgent, challenge than ever before. This report shows that achieving water security means much more than coping with water scarcity. It means managing water resources in a sustainable, efficient, and equitable way. It also involves delivering water services reliably and affordably, to reinforce relationships between service providers and water users and contribute to a renewed social contract. Water security also entails mitigating water-related risks such as floods and droughts. Water security is an urgent target, but it is also a target within reach. A host of potential solutions to the region’s water management challenges exist. To make these solutions work, clear incentives are needed to change the way water is managed, conserved, and allocated. To make these solutions work, countries in the region will also need to better engage water users, civil society, and youth. The failure of policies to address water challenges can have severe impacts on people’s well-being and political stability. The strategic question for the region is whether countries will act with foresight and resolve to strengthen water security, or whether they will wait to react to the inevitable disruptions of water crises

Education has a large untapped potential to contribute to human capital, well-being, and wealth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It had been at the heart of the region’s history and civilizations for centuries. The region invested heavily in education for decades but has not been able to reap the benefits of its investments. Despite series of reforms, the region remained stuck in a low learning – low skills level. There are four key sets of tensions that are holding back education in the MENA region. These tensions: Credentials and skills, discipline and inquiry, control and autonomy, and tradition and modernity are shaped by society and are reflected in schools and classrooms. If not addressed, MENA will continue to operate below its potential. Addressing these tensions and unleashing the potential of education requires a new framework with a three-pronged approach: A concerted push for learning that starts early for all children regardless of background, with qualified and motivated educators that leverages technology and uses modern approaches and monitors learning. It also requires a stronger pull for skills by all stakeholders in the labor market and society and involves coordinated multi-system reforms within and outside the education system. Finally, it requires a new pact for education at a national level with a unified vision, shared responsibilities and accountabilities. Education is everyone’s business and not just the responsibility of the education system. The push, pull, pact framework offers an opportunity for the MENA region to charge forward and reclaim its heritage of a learned region and meet the expectations and aspirations of its people. The current situation in MENA requires a renewed focus on education not just as a national priority for economic growth and social development but as a national emergency for stability, peace and prosperity