Gov 365N/MES 323K
Questions for Class 21: April 8, 2008
Focusing this week on the Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. But
first, let us continue our discussion of Islamic finance - here is 1)
timid beginnings in
Morocco of
Islamic finance, 2) news of a conference in Saudi Arabia on
Islamic economics:
"Capitalism
has failed to addrerss the major issues..." And look at the big
problem in the GCC caused by the collapse of the dollar - yet another
ironic impact of globalization:
Monetary
union tops Doha meeting agenda. But
they
will not discuss currency reform and their differing exchange
rates. Then, to turn back to poorer countries, here is news of a
general strike being called in Egypt to protest rising bread prices
and other hardships caused by global commodity price rises - see
Joel Beinen's
"Underbelly of Egypt's Neoliberal Agenda" in
MERIP. And look at
April
7 NYT on Egyptian strikes and demonstrations - is a revolutionary
situation developing?
- What are some of the major similarities and differences
between Saudi Arabia and Morocco with respect to population,
dynastic history, social traditions, political elites, business
elites, constitutional development, economic resources (oil vs
phosphates!), and political and economic reform?
- If the principal blockage to reform in Morocco is the business
oligopoly, what seem to be the blockages in Saudi Arabia? Oil
rents? Najd merchants? The royal family? “Wahhabism”?
- Who wants reform in Saudi Arabia? Compare and contrast Saudi
needs with those of the less wealthy MENA countries?
- Compare and contrast the Saudi system with those of Bahrain,
Kuwait and Qatar. Why do you think Kuwait has a more developed
parliament, periodic elections, and some ability of the elected
deputies to block government initiatives?
- Again, from last week, how do the constraints on information
and freedom of association in monarchies compare with those
exercised in bully or bunker regimes?
- And with what impact upon the development of active local
stock markets?
(See
your syllabus, with some graphs of relationships between
wealth, economic reform, information, and stock market activity).