Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.52
Ahmed El Morabety, Mohamed El Morabety
Brain drain, or human capital flight, is the emigration of highly educated individuals and well-experienced professionals from low-income economies to more prosperous ones. Brain drain in Morocco has dramatically increased over the last years, and has become one of the most hotly debated issues in the country. This paper explores the main push and pull factors behind this ever-increasing flight of skilled labor, and highlights its effects on development and economic growth. It further suggests some ideas to be considered so as to address this increasingly complex challenge.
{"title":"The Impact of Brain Drain on Development","authors":"Ahmed El Morabety, Mohamed El Morabety","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.52","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.52","url":null,"abstract":"Brain drain, or human capital flight, is the emigration of highly educated individuals and well-experienced professionals from low-income economies to more prosperous ones. Brain drain in Morocco has dramatically increased over the last years, and has become one of the most hotly debated issues in the country. This paper explores the main push and pull factors behind this ever-increasing flight of skilled labor, and highlights its effects on development and economic growth. It further suggests some ideas to be considered so as to address this increasingly complex challenge.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84308439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article argues that the transitional justice (TJ) approach in post-Gaddafi Libya has failed because it lacked national reconciliation. Libya’s transition experience did not include reconciliation and agreement on a new social contract, and this not only perpetuated conflict, exclusion, and division, but also frustrated the pursuit of a peace, and made democratic transition a remote possibility. Taking stock from local and relevant comparative international experiences, the main argument is that the nexus between TJ and peacebuilding should be replaced, or at least coupled, with an inclusive national reconciliation process that yields an agreement on a new social contract. This implies the urgent need to go beyond the often externally promoted TJ and narrow state-centric processes in a country where the state itself has been destroyed and its future form remains highly contested with some actors such as Islamists with illiberal notions contesting the nation-state and its legitimacy, authority, and the issue of human rights.
{"title":"Justice, Reconciliation, and State-Building in Post-Gaddafi Libya","authors":"Youssef Mohammad Sawani","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.3","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that the transitional justice (TJ) approach in post-Gaddafi Libya has failed because it lacked national reconciliation. Libya’s transition experience did not include reconciliation and agreement on a new social contract, and this not only perpetuated conflict, exclusion, and division, but also frustrated the pursuit of a peace, and made democratic transition a remote possibility. Taking stock from local and relevant comparative international experiences, the main argument is that the nexus between TJ and peacebuilding should be replaced, or at least coupled, with an inclusive national reconciliation process that yields an agreement on a new social contract. This implies the urgent need to go beyond the often externally promoted TJ and narrow state-centric processes in a country where the state itself has been destroyed and its future form remains highly contested with some actors such as Islamists with illiberal notions contesting the nation-state and its legitimacy, authority, and the issue of human rights.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"389 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74987865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.25
A. Kamel
This paper explores the prisoner’s dilemma in the context of interactions between Libya’s Tripoli- and Tobruk-led actors in the period between Gaddafi’s 2011 ousting and the 2015 Libyan Political Agreement. In so doing, it reveals the extent to which Libyan decisions aligned with the game’s principal outcome-maximizing strategy to ascertain authority and a non-outcome-maximizing strategy’s conflict resolution-through-cooperation goal. In contrast to the game’s assumptions, however, the findings convey how negotiations between the two players were driven by contextual factors, predominantly: Libya’s historical makeup, internal–external links, and hydrocarbon control. This informs my contention that the complexities of the Libya case study demonstrate the limits of the prisoner’s dilemma in illuminating the dynamics of a given political phenomenon. As a result, this account presents a novel Libya-specific blueprint of the prisoner’s dilemma that highlights the limitations of this framework and concludes with a reflection on what this means for understanding this type of game.
{"title":"Libya and the Prisoner’s Dilemma","authors":"A. Kamel","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.2.25","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the prisoner’s dilemma in the context of interactions between Libya’s Tripoli- and Tobruk-led actors in the period between Gaddafi’s 2011 ousting and the 2015 Libyan Political Agreement. In so doing, it reveals the extent to which Libyan decisions aligned with the game’s principal outcome-maximizing strategy to ascertain authority and a non-outcome-maximizing strategy’s conflict resolution-through-cooperation goal. In contrast to the game’s assumptions, however, the findings convey how negotiations between the two players were driven by contextual factors, predominantly: Libya’s historical makeup, internal–external links, and hydrocarbon control. This informs my contention that the complexities of the Libya case study demonstrate the limits of the prisoner’s dilemma in illuminating the dynamics of a given political phenomenon. As a result, this account presents a novel Libya-specific blueprint of the prisoner’s dilemma that highlights the limitations of this framework and concludes with a reflection on what this means for understanding this type of game.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73513680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CAA Enters its Fifteenth Year of Publication","authors":"Ali E. Hillal Dessouki","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"70 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90536128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lebanon’s Ta’if Agreement, although implemented as a tool for conflict reconstruction, did not build a sustainable peace, nor has it created the base for democratic and economic development. Rather, it perpetuates elites’ interests at the expense of an ever-poorer population, while crystallizing fragmentation along sectarian identities, thus increasing the security dilemma. New literature on Lebanon’s power-sharing system is questioning how to build cross-sectarian cooperation and trust in Lebanon and, in doing so, is widely looking at the potential peacebuilding of civil society initiatives. The central point of the paper is that thinking about conflict transformation in Lebanon requires investigating the relation between power-sharing and civil society within a perspective of creating inclusive institutional mechanisms for the latter.
{"title":"Beyond Lebanon’s Power-Sharing","authors":"Claudia Ditel","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.6","url":null,"abstract":"Lebanon’s Ta’if Agreement, although implemented as a tool for conflict reconstruction, did not build a sustainable peace, nor has it created the base for democratic and economic development. Rather, it perpetuates elites’ interests at the expense of an ever-poorer population, while crystallizing fragmentation along sectarian identities, thus increasing the security dilemma. New literature on Lebanon’s power-sharing system is questioning how to build cross-sectarian cooperation and trust in Lebanon and, in doing so, is widely looking at the potential peacebuilding of civil society initiatives. The central point of the paper is that thinking about conflict transformation in Lebanon requires investigating the relation between power-sharing and civil society within a perspective of creating inclusive institutional mechanisms for the latter.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79563530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.58
Ayman Nada
This study analyzes the determinants of American public opinion towards Islam and Muslims. It examines the impact of both period of time (1990–2020) and significant events (e.g., September 11, 2001) on the general impression (favorability) and knowledge of Islam among the American people. Twenty-two polls including questions about the favorability and the knowledge of Islam and carried out between 1990 and 2020 were analyzed. The results show that (1) positive attitudes towards Islam increase over time, meaning that time has a positive impact on Americans’ impressions about Islam; (2) knowledge about Islam among the American people increases over time—time has also been found to have a positive impact on Americans’ knowledge about Islam; and (3) there is a reciprocal correlation between knowledge and attitudes. Knowledge of Islam has a positive impact on attitudes, and attitudes have positive impact on knowledge about Islam. The findings of this study set the base for a strategic plan to improve the image of Islam in the United States and Americans’ knowledge about Muslims and their true beliefs.
{"title":"The Benefit of the Doubt or the Underdog Effect?","authors":"Ayman Nada","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.58","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.58","url":null,"abstract":"This study analyzes the determinants of American public opinion towards Islam and Muslims. It examines the impact of both period of time (1990–2020) and significant events (e.g., September 11, 2001) on the general impression (favorability) and knowledge of Islam among the American people. Twenty-two polls including questions about the favorability and the knowledge of Islam and carried out between 1990 and 2020 were analyzed. The results show that (1) positive attitudes towards Islam increase over time, meaning that time has a positive impact on Americans’ impressions about Islam; (2) knowledge about Islam among the American people increases over time—time has also been found to have a positive impact on Americans’ knowledge about Islam; and (3) there is a reciprocal correlation between knowledge and attitudes. Knowledge of Islam has a positive impact on attitudes, and attitudes have positive impact on knowledge about Islam. The findings of this study set the base for a strategic plan to improve the image of Islam in the United States and Americans’ knowledge about Muslims and their true beliefs.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81769964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.80
Abdelkarim Ben Dakhli
Philosophers have dwelt on the concept of peace to study its differences and diversity within the framework of a much more extensive and comprehensive field. They have discovered other concepts stemming from the main concept such as the recognition of the other, identity, altruism, cooperation, and integration. But along with its multiple subconcepts peacemaking is a complicated problematic concept. The difficulty of defining the concept of “peace” is not the main challenge, but rather the ability of such concept to reimagine the world so that it is compromised in political thought and practice. It is a concept that shapes the world, connecting the core with the margins, and steers policies of major countries influencing regional and global affairs. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the global balance of power, interest in the concept of peace grew. Given how peace can influence the situation in the Arab region, and its relation to the Arab–Israeli conflict, it is vital to research the components and strategies of “the Israeli peace” and how it impacts the Arab region. This article focuses on “the Israeli peace,” highlighting its themes and approaches, and also unveils the Israeli drive and aspiration to structure a new Arab regional order based on hegemony and dependency. If the Arabs wish to achieve peace, they will have to reconsider the main premises of peace, its theoretical assumptions, and practical procedures, especially after consecutive US administrations have abandoned their role of honest broker in overseeing negotiations. The article poses several questions in relation to whether and how a peaceful settlement is equal to “the Israeli peace,” and how it could be relevant to and based on mutual interests. What makes any peace inclusive and what are the differences between different approaches? In this context, the article analyses the complications related to peace in the region, adhering to an approach in which it acknowledges the historical, political, and cultural overlap that is connected to the nature and comprehensiveness of the concept of peace.
{"title":"Israeli Peace","authors":"Abdelkarim Ben Dakhli","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.80","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.80","url":null,"abstract":"Philosophers have dwelt on the concept of peace to study its differences and diversity within the framework of a much more extensive and comprehensive field. They have discovered other concepts stemming from the main concept such as the recognition of the other, identity, altruism, cooperation, and integration. But along with its multiple subconcepts peacemaking is a complicated problematic concept. The difficulty of defining the concept of “peace” is not the main challenge, but rather the ability of such concept to reimagine the world so that it is compromised in political thought and practice. It is a concept that shapes the world, connecting the core with the margins, and steers policies of major countries influencing regional and global affairs. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the global balance of power, interest in the concept of peace grew. Given how peace can influence the situation in the Arab region, and its relation to the Arab–Israeli conflict, it is vital to research the components and strategies of “the Israeli peace” and how it impacts the Arab region. This article focuses on “the Israeli peace,” highlighting its themes and approaches, and also unveils the Israeli drive and aspiration to structure a new Arab regional order based on hegemony and dependency. If the Arabs wish to achieve peace, they will have to reconsider the main premises of peace, its theoretical assumptions, and practical procedures, especially after consecutive US administrations have abandoned their role of honest broker in overseeing negotiations. The article poses several questions in relation to whether and how a peaceful settlement is equal to “the Israeli peace,” and how it could be relevant to and based on mutual interests. What makes any peace inclusive and what are the differences between different approaches? In this context, the article analyses the complications related to peace in the region, adhering to an approach in which it acknowledges the historical, political, and cultural overlap that is connected to the nature and comprehensiveness of the concept of peace.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"206 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86245872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.109
Youssef Mohammad Sawani
{"title":"Review: Genocide in Libya: Shar, A Hidden Colonial History, by Ali Abdullatif Ahmida","authors":"Youssef Mohammad Sawani","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.109","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90249821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.117
Maryam AlHajri
{"title":"Review: Contested Modernity: Sectarianism, Nationalism, and Colonialism in Bahrain, by Omar H. al-Shehabi","authors":"Maryam AlHajri","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.117","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82614195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.40
Hocine Laarid
For China, the Middle East is a large geostrategic region that contributes to determining policies, and therefore the Chinese have always aimed to “step” into this arena and advance their agenda. Even though they are seeking a strategic location on the Mediterranean coast, Beijing’s pursuit of alternative energy sources, which has not been successful in Central Asia, has increased rather than diminished. We will try to understand how the Chinese strategic perspective in the Middle East is manifested in its position on the Syrian conflict, especially in light of Russian involvement. China’s relations with other Middle Eastern states will be discussed in relation to the Syrian conflict. The study concludes that China is seeking to export its image as a country with flexible diplomacy, a stable economy, massive industrial capacity, and huge capital in order to ensure an orderly rise against the West.
{"title":"The Syrian Conflict’s Influence on the Chinese Role in the Middle East","authors":"Hocine Laarid","doi":"10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.40","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2022.15.1.40","url":null,"abstract":"For China, the Middle East is a large geostrategic region that contributes to determining policies, and therefore the Chinese have always aimed to “step” into this arena and advance their agenda. Even though they are seeking a strategic location on the Mediterranean coast, Beijing’s pursuit of alternative energy sources, which has not been successful in Central Asia, has increased rather than diminished. We will try to understand how the Chinese strategic perspective in the Middle East is manifested in its position on the Syrian conflict, especially in light of Russian involvement. China’s relations with other Middle Eastern states will be discussed in relation to the Syrian conflict. The study concludes that China is seeking to export its image as a country with flexible diplomacy, a stable economy, massive industrial capacity, and huge capital in order to ensure an orderly rise against the West.","PeriodicalId":39004,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Arab Affairs","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76576165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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