ABSTRACT

Economic development in the MENA region is retarded by a lack of economic integration and co-operation. Economies are underdeveloped in manufacturing and over-dependent on services. Despite policies of economic liberalization in place since the 1980s, MENA ranks low on ease of doing business and high on corruption, a function of crony capitalism. Regional inequality in economic development sharply increased, owing to the distribution of hydrocarbons between the GCC and the oil poor states: on indices of well-being, the GCC ranks high globally while the rest of MENA ranks toward the bottom. Dubai has developed into a world-class city based on services, transit trade and property booms. Within states, urban–rural and class disparities have increased. The Uprising further damaged economies and hence the prospects for reducing the grievances that helped spark it to be assuaged.