Why is Russia flexing its muscles in the Middle East?

Syria’s bloody civil war suddenly became even more tangled in September with the start of a massive Russian bombing campaign on targets in the country. Two historians offer their personal takes on why Vladimir Putin ordered airstrikes

Monetary policy, exchange rates and stock prices in the Middle East region

A structural vector autoregressive model is employed to investigate the impact of monetary policy and real exchange rate shocks on the stock market performance of Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. In order to identify the structural shocks both short run and long run restrictions are applied. Unlike previous literature the contemporaneous interdependence between the financial variables are left unrestricted to give a more accurate depiction of the relationships. The heterogeneity of the results reflect the different monetary policy frameworks and stock market characteristics of these countries. Mainly, monetary policy and the real exchange rate shocks have a significant short run impact on the stock prices of the countries that apply a relatively more independent monetary policy and flexible exchange rates.

Media ‘Globalization’ as Survival Strategy for Authoritarian Regimes In the Arab Middle East

Sakr challenges the notion that transnational media technologies have forced states in the Arab Middle East to cede ever more control to non-state players since the 1990s. Taking account of a long history of foreign political engineering in Arab countries, she probes the realities of Arab broadcasting privatization, intra-regional harmonization of government communication policies, and external financial support for media freedom and reform, to show how Arab governments were large successfully in harnessing forces implicated in media globalization in a way that entrenched authoritarian elements of the status quo. The findings validate an alternative to globalization theory that places a dual focus on the agency of national ruling elites and the international structures that underpin the power of those elites today, as in the past.

Cross-National Differences in Managerial Discretion: Insights from the Middle East

Our study examines the effect of cultural practices on CEO discretion across six Middle Eastern countries. Using a panel of senior management consultants, we extend the national-level framework of managerial discretion and find that an encompassing array of cultural practices play a crucial role in shaping the degree of discretion provided to CEOs’ of public firms headquartered in these countries. We empirically demonstrate that power distance, future and performance orientation along with gender egalitarianism and assertiveness have positive relationships with managerial discretion. However, institutional collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and humane orientation negatively affect the degree of discretion provided to CEOs. As such, our results indicate that executives are able to take idiosyncratic and bold actions to the extent to which the cultural environment allows them to do so. As such, we contribute to the strategic leadership literature by finding new national-level antecedents of managerial discretion that haven’t been considered in earlier studies and confirm the context dependency of the discretion construct.

Security and Securities in English Commercial Law

Paul Latimer, Associate Professor, Department of Business Law and Taxation. Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University. Présentation dans le cadre du cycle de conférences organisé par le CRDP intitulé « Le droit à la sécurité ... la sécurité par le droit ».

Shari'a Commercial Law : "old wine in new bottles?"

Suite à la crise financière globale de 2008, ainsi qu’aux différents facteurs qui y ont mené, il est étonnant qu’une alternative éthique et juste pour une finance lucrative et stable n’existe toujours pas (ou du moins, demeure oubliée). Ayant décidé de contribuer au domaine pluri-centenaire du Droit Commercial de la Chari’a, nous avons été surpris par la découverte d’une problématique à l’origine de cette thèse. En France, nous avons suivi des débats doctrinaux intéressants dont les conclusions se rapprochent de la perception générale Occidentale quand à la nature de la finance Islamique, que ce soit au niveau de la finance basée sur le Droit de la Chari’a ou encore les exigences de sa pleine introduction dans le système juridique français de l’époque. Cet intérêt initial dans la finance islamique a ensuite mené à un intérêt dans la question des avantages d’éthique et de justice du Droit Commercial de la Chari’a dans son ensemble, qui est au coeur de cette thèse. Dans le monde moderne du commerce et de la finance d’aujourd’hui, les transactions sont marquées par une prise de risque excessive et un esprit de spéculation qui s’apparente aux jeux de hasard, et menant à des pertes colossales. Pire encore, ces pertes sont ensuite transférées à la collectivité. Par conséquent, y at-il des préceptes, des principes ou des règles éthiques et juridiques qui peuvent fournir une certaine forme de sécurité et de protection dans les marchés financiers d'aujourd'hui? Est-ce réalisable? Cette thèse soutient que la richesse de la jurisprudence islamique ainsi que ses règles dont les avantages n’ont pas encore été pleinement saisis et régénérés en réponse aux nouveaux défis d’aujourd'hui, peuvent encore fournir continuellement des solutions, et réformer des produits financiers de façon à refléter des principes de justice et d'équité. Dans ce processus, un éclairage nouveau sera apporté à certains sujets déjà connus dans le cadre de la contribution prévue de cette thèse, mais ne sera pas le principal objectif de la thèse.

Rainfall Climatology over Middle East Region and its Variability

A better understanding of the rainfall climatology of the Middle East region identifying the mechanisms responsible for the rain producing systems is essential for effective utilization of the water resources over the arid region. A comprehensive analysis on the rainfall climatology of the Middle East region is carried out to bring out the spatial and temporal variation of rainfall and mechanisms responsible for the rain events. The study was carried out utilizing rainfall, OLR, wind and humidity data sets procured from TRMM, NOAA and NCEP-NCAR. Climatology of annual rainfall brings out two areas of alarmingly low rainfall in the Middle East region: one in Egypt, Jordan and adjoining areas and the other in the southern part of Saudi Arabia. Daily rainfall analysis indicates that northern region gets rainfall mainly during winter and spring associated with the passage of Mediterranean low pressure systems whereas rain over the southern region is caused mainly by the monsoon organized convection, cross equatorial flow and remnants of low pressure systems associated with the monsoon during the summer season. Thermodynamic structure of the atmosphere reveals that the region does not have frequent local convection due to insufficient moisture content. The sinking motion associated with the sub tropic high pressure system and subsidence associated with the Walker circulation are responsible for maintaining warm and dry air over the region.

History of Europe and the Middle East: IB Diploma programme.

Esta guía contiene una revisión de todos los temas de historia de Europa para el Programa del Diploma de Bachillerato Internacional (IB Diploma). Los temas del libro son: la revolución francesa y Napoleón (Francia bajo Napoleón, las guerras napoleónicas, el Congresos de Viena), las unificaciones de Italia y Alemania, Austria en el siglo diecinueve, Europa occidental y septentrional en 1848 y 1914, la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la creación del estado de Israel, Irán, Arabia Saudí, la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Europa, la Europa de la posguerra, reconstruyendo y unificando Europa.

The women education in Lebanon : lessons for Middle East

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

The EU's External Action towards the Middle East: Resolution required. CEPS Commentary, 7 January 2012

Among the many foreign policy challenges the EU will have to address this year, such as cultivating workable ties with Ukraine, Russia and other neighbours in the east, reviving the transatlantic partnership in trade, rebalancing alliances with Asian countries, and pooling and sharing defence capabilities, the number one challenge that will take up most of the Foreign Affairs Council’s time is the Middle East. After months of half-baked unilateral attempts at resolving the foreign policy challenges posed by this troubled region, the moment has now come for the EU to take bold and concrete action, argues CEPS Senior Fellow Steven Blockmans in this new Commentary.

Past, present and future precipitation in the Middle East: insights from models and observations

Anthropogenic changes in precipitation pose a serious threat to society—particularly in regions such as the Middle East that already face serious water shortages. However, climate model projections of regional precipitation remain highly uncertain. Moreover, standard resolution climate models have particular difficulty representing precipitation in the Middle East, which is modulated by complex topography, inland water bodies and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. Here we compare precipitation changes over the twenty-first century against both millennial variability during the Holocene and interannual variability in the present day. In order to assess the climate model and to make consistent comparisons, this study uses new regional climate model simulations of the past, present and future in conjunction with proxy and historical observations. We show that the pattern of precipitation change within Europe and the Middle East projected by the end of the twenty-first century has some similarities to that which occurred during the Holocene. In both cases, a poleward shift of the North Atlantic storm track and a weakening of the Mediterranean storm track appear to cause decreased winter rainfall in southern Europe and the Middle East and increased rainfall further north. In contrast, on an interannual time scale, anomalously dry seasons in the Middle East are associated with a strengthening and focusing of the storm track in the north Mediterranean and hence wet conditions throughout southern Europe.