A new era for social protection analysis in LMICs? A critical social policy perspective from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA)

2019 ◽  
Vol 123 ◽  
pp. 104606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
New Era ◽  
Policy Perspective ◽  
Critical Social

scholarly journals State Fragility, Social Contracts and the Role of Social Protection: Perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 447
Author(s):  
Markus Loewe ◽  
Tina Zintl
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Information Campaign ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
Government Provision ◽  
Two Sides

Social contracts and state fragility represent two sides of one coin. The former concept highlights that governments need to deliver three “Ps”—protection, provision, and political participation—to be acceptable for societies, whereas the latter argues that states can fail due to lack of authority (inhibiting protection), capacity (inhibiting provision), or legitimacy. Defunct social contracts often lead to popular unrest. Using empirical evidence from the Middle East and North Africa, we demonstrate how different notions of state fragility lead to different kinds of grievances and how they can be remedied by measures of social protection. Social protection is always a key element of government provision and hence a cornerstone of all social contracts. It can most easily counteract grievances that were triggered by decreasing provision (e.g., after subsidy reforms in Iran and Morocco) but also partially substitute for deficient protection (e.g., by the Palestinian National Authority, in pre-2011 Yemen) or participation (information campaign accompanying Moroccan subsidy cut; participatory set-ups for cash-for-work programmes in Jordan). It can even help maintain a minimum of state–society relations in states defunct in all three Ps (e.g., Yemen). Hence, social protection can be a powerful instrument to reduce state fragility and mend social contracts. Yet, to be effective, it needs to address grievances in an inclusive, rule-based, and non-discriminatory way. In addition, to gain legitimacy, governments should assume responsibility over social protection instead of outsourcing it to foreign donors.

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
pp. 237-254
Author(s):  
Angie Heo
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Arab Nationalism ◽  
New Era ◽  
Global War On Terrorism ◽  
Migrant Laborers ◽  
Militant Groups ◽  
Coptic Church ◽  
Global War

The epilogue centers on the Libya Martyrs, the twenty-one migrant laborers who were beheaded in 2015, and the alarming rise of ISIS across North Africa and the Middle East in 2013–14. It shows how the terrorist execution of Copts and its immediate aftermath activated older strands of religious mediation that have been described throughout this book: the communal dynamics of martyr commemoration, Arab nationalism versus Christian Rome as competing referents of political belonging, the outbreak of contests and threats tied to church territory, and the cult making of contemporary martyrs in the Coptic Church. By recounting the Libya Martyrs' various contexts, the epilogue invites reflection on how acts of violence that exceed the Egyptian national frame—through impoverished Coptic migrants and pan-Islamic militant groups—exacerbate old structures of sectarian tension in a new era of post-revolutionary militarization and the global war on terrorism.

Social Protection and the Pandemic in the MENA Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (821) ◽  
pp. 356-361
Author(s):  
Rana Jawad
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Transfer Programs ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
Emergency Measures

Nations in the Middle East and North Africa have traditionally seen the primary function of social policy as serving the goal of economic growth. But the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need for a more balanced approach to make societies more resilient, with social protection policies that provide citizens with basic security throughout their lives. Beyond cash transfer programs and other emergency measures, governments should recognize the need for universal provision of health care and other essential assistance. Otherwise they risk leaving the Arab Spring’s popular demands for dignity unheeded.

Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rana Jawad ◽  
Nicola Jones ◽  
Mahmood Messkoub
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa
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