The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – at the interlocking levels of politics, economy, and society – have been different across regions, states, and societies. In the case of the Middle East and North Africa, which was already in the throes of intense tumult following the onset of the 2011 Arab Spring, COVID’s blows have on the one hand followed the trajectory of some global patterns, while at the same time playing out in regionally specific ways.
Based on empirical country-level analysis, this volume brings together an international team of contributors seeking to untangle how COVID-19 unfolds across the MENA. The analyses are framed through a contextual adaptation of Ulrich Beck’s famous concept of “risk society” that pinpointed the negative consequences of modernity and its unbridled capitalism. The book traces how this has come home in full force in the COVID-19 pandemic. The editors, Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh, use the term ""Arab risk society"". They highlight short-term and long-term repercussions across the MENA. These include socio-economic inequality, a revitalized state of authoritarianism challenged by relentless democratic struggles.
But the analyses are attuned to problem-solving research. The ""ethnographies of the pandemic"" included in this book investigate transformations and coping mechanisms within each country case study. They provide an ethically-informed research praxis that can respond to the manifold crises crashing down upon MENA polities and societies
Volume editor:
Larbi Sadiki (Qatar University Qatar),
Layla Saleh (Qatar University,
Qatar)
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780755643882
ISBN 10: 0755643887
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 12 January 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. MENA Risk Society and the “Pandemic Condition” Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh Part I: The Gulf 2. Small States of the Arab Gulf: Diplomatic Dimensions of a Pandemic, Beverley Milton-Edwards 3. Accelerating AI-led Structural Transformation of the GCC Migration Regimes in the Wake of COVID-19 and the Implications for the Labor-Exporting Countries, Abdul Ghaffar Mughal and and Ali A.Hadi Alshawi 4.Socioeconomic Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on the GCC Countries: Threats and Opportunities, Héla Miniaoui1 and Anis Khayati Part II: The Maghreb (Western MENA) 5. North Africa and the Pandemic, Mohamed El Hachimi 6. The Impact of COVID-19 on the Political and Social Frames in Morocco from a Democratic Perspective, Aisha Kadaoui Part III: The Mashreq (Eastern MENA) 7. Risking Health Security: Coronavirus-19, the WHO, and the Limits of the State in Egypt Mohammed, Moussa and Takayuki Yokota 8. Dual Combat: Resisting COVID-19 and the Israeli Occupation, Basem Ezbidi 9 Crisis and Ceding of State Sovereignty: The Case of Lebanon and the COVID-19 Pandemic, Assem Dandashly Part IV: Wider MENA 10. Gendering Security: The Impact of COVID-19 on Refugee Women in Turkey Ravza Altuntas-Çakir, Aysegül Gökalp Kutlu, and Fatmanur Delioglu 11. Risky Pedagogies: Macro- and Micro-Politics of the Virus in the Times of COVID-19 Epidemic Maziyar Ghiabi Part V: Regional Perspectives 12. EU-MENA Relations amid COVID-19 Pandemic. Between Economic Issues, Migration Challenges and Authoritarian Risk, Pietro Marzo and Renata Pepicelli 13. The Post-Pandemic Bifurcation: Democratization versus Oligarchy Radicalization in the Arab World, Mudar Kassis Conclusion 14. A Matter of Pandemics, Politics, and Academics: The Conundrums of Researching COVID-19 in MENA, Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh Index
Larbi Sadiki is Professor of Arab Democratization. He is editor of Routledge Studies of Middle Eastern Democratization and Government, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal PROTEST. He is director of the Tunis-based Democratic Sustainability Forum (Demos). He is currently Senior Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, Qatar. Layla Saleh is Associate Professor of International Affairs at Qatar University, Qatar and Associate Editor of the journal PROTEST. She is co-founder of the Democratic Sustainability Forum (Demos). Her publications include the book US Hard Power in the Arab World: Resistance, the Syrian Uprising, and the War on Terror (2017).
Reviews for COVID-19 and Risk Society across the MENA Region: Assessing Governance, Democracy, and Inequality
In the Middle East and North Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the political, economic, and societal fissures that contributed to and were exacerbated by the Arab revolutions and counterrevolutions. In this highly recommended volume, editors Larbi Sadiki and Layla Saleh offer a fascinating examination of the pandemic’s impact on citizens, refugees, and migrant workers. The editors and contributors admirably offer suggested reforms for a more just and equitable post-pandemic MENA region. * Osamah F. Khalil, Associate Professor, Syracuse University, USA * An interesting exploration of how states with such different structures and resources have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. … I recommend this book as an interesting exploration of ‘risk society’ related to COVID-19 in the MENA region and related impacts. * The Lancet Infectious Diseases *
