Lebanon faces significant developmental challenges, including insufficient electricity supply, environmental degradation and staggering inequality, yet the government has not invested in these areas despite substantial economic growth in recent decades. This student brief uses agenda-setting theory to argue that Lebanon’s disappointing record of development is reflected in the narrow political agenda of the government.
This brief is part of a two-year project on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East post-Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Even though the United States has long maintained a dominant presence in the Gulf, the Chinese social contract model may actually more applicable to the social and economic dynamics of GCC states than the Western orthodoxy of political liberalism and unbridled free market policies, the author argues in this issue brief.
On August 31, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the shared goal of accelerating and streamlining the permit application review process for proposed LNG facilities. Fellow Rachel A. Meidl explores the significance and possible impact of this MOU.
By Daniel L. Tavana, Princeton University
The evolution of Kuwaiti opposition groups following changes to Kuwait's electoral law fundamentally altered the dynamics of electoral contests after the Arab Spring, the author writes.