Political Economy in the Middle East and North Africa: Why Institutions, Rents, and Power Matter in Economic Reforms (Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy)

Many countries in the Middle East and North Africa continue to face major economic and political challenges, including volatile economic growth, low economic diversification, high unemployment levels, and, in some cases, pervasive authoritarian regimes.These economic and political challenges are interdependent, and reform is needed in both spheres if structural, long-lasting change is going to be achieved. This book combines the World Bank’s concept of “good governance” with other analytical tools of political economy - including rent-seeking theory, political settlements approach, the resource curse, and Dutch Disease - to explore how government institutions in the region affect economic reforms and vice versa.The book also examines the role of institutions and performance of governance on rent distribution, evaluating how governments manage their, sometimes-abundant natural resources.In some “rentier states,” governments are clearly utilizing these resources for their own political e