Research Library

By Marwan Muasher, Ph.D., Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The author explores reform efforts and identifies challenges in Jordan following the Arab Spring. The brief is part of a two-year project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

By Alanoud Al Sharekh, Ph.D., University of London Kuwait’s economy has been stagnant over the past decade due to political instability, fluctuating oil prices, and endemic corruption. To combat this situation, Kuwait has attempted to develop a robust business sector through fundamental policy shifts away from monopolies and toward the creation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Alanoud Al Sharekh explores Kuwaiti SME development in an issue brief and a longer research paper, which are part of a series on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

GCC states have taken an active role in supporting entrepreneurship creation, as part of efforts to diversify and grow their economies. Yet while state-led entrepreneurship policies have worked to achieve many positive outcomes, they have also revealed some major shortcomings, such as reinforcing the political status quo and limiting the possibility of genuine change toward democratization. M. Evren Tok explores these issues in both a short issue brief and longer research paper on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The current leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are trying to assert much more political control over their respective country's religious institutions. The lesson both regimes seem to have taken away from the Arab upheavals is not the necessity of pluralism, but instead the need for more regimentation, hierarchy, control, and exclusion.

By Courtney Freer, London School of Economics Cross-ideological movements uniting Islamist and secular groups have increasingly focused on sweeping political reforms instead of social policies and ideology in post-Arab Spring Kuwait, writes the author. This brief is the second of four resulting from a May 2018 workshop held in Kuwait by the Baker Institute in partnership with the Alsalam Center for Strategic and Developmental Studies. This work is part of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York on “Building Pluralistic and Inclusive States Post-Arab Spring.”

The author examines the seemingly conflicting policy outcomes that result from high unemployment and a large fiscal deficit in Saudi Arabia.

Procedural reforms can further advance the development of start-ups in Bahrain, writes the author in this evaluation of the country’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The author examines the key challenges and opportunities of integrating climate policies with Gulf Cooperation Council economic diversification strategies, particularly in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

As the competition between the U.S. and China intensifies, energy fellow Gabriel Collins calls for U.S. leadership in a technology race that will determine global influence for decades to come.

This brief examines trends in energy demand patterns highlighted by 2018 energy outlooks prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the International Energy Agency, and BP.