Political economy of the contemporary MENA region

Since the Arab uprisings of 2010-2011, the Middle East and North Africa’s struggles with inequality, indebtedness, joblessness, and weak growth have become increasingly well-documented. Despite this, public understanding of what is driving these trends remains limited, and the explanations typically put forth— cronyism, over-enlarged states, burdensome regulatory environments, a lack of financial inclusion—closely resemble the tropes of yesteryear.

Partially as a result, attempts at advancing policy responses are floundering: Amongst the non-energy producers in particular, one observes governors again administering austerity while tying their economy’s growth to misguided schemes for derisking investment opportunities. Looking forward, most of the MENA region stands at the precipice of a second consecutive lost decade when it comes to development. Knock-on effects in terms of political stability, migration, and violence will be significant.

The scientific and real world consequence of these subject matters are difficult to overstate. In an era when climate change is to disrupt livelihoods across the Middle East and North Africa, the region’s long festering development crisis is poised to be acutely destructive.

Cognizant both of the stakes and of the degree to which MENA’s development crisis continues to be misdiagnosed, the Noria MENA Program has designed an intervention plan. It is oriented with two objectives in mind:

•  To enhance the state of knowledge on the causes of inequality, indebtedness, joblessness, and weak growth in the MENA region.
• To develop actionable policy solutions when it comes to these issues.