Economic Liberalisation Social Capital And Islamic Welfare Provision

This book looks at two aspects of Islamic activity in the Middle East and North Africa, the development of social capital and the provision of welfare services, within the context of economic liberalisation programmes to see whether the retrenchment of the state under liberalisation has created a space for Islamic-based activities.

Although it is still early for an established academic account of the motivations behind the dramatic events in the Arab world in 2010/11, Leila Simona Talani believes that it is about time to try and place this issue into the broader picture of the latest changes in the global political economy.

This book provides a fascinating analysis of the external and internal linkages that have for decades impeded economic and political reforms in the Arab world, and presents a new and coherent framework that enables policy makers and practitioners to better understand, identify and deal with the root causes of terrorism.

The book addresses the challenges faced by women on the two shores of the Mediterranean from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective. While in the European Union’s (EU) Mediterranean countries inequality is mostly linked to the social sphere and, in particular refers to labour market dynamics, in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) area, the situation is more complicated as the social and private spheres are blended and cultural and religious factors have a great impact on women autonomy and opportunities beyond the family perimeter. The different challenges women are facing on the two sides of the Mediterranean have sometimes originated incomprehension and misperceptions. Western-supported policies devoted to fill the gap between men and women in the MENA area have overlooked countries’ peculiarities simply exporting models tailored for EU’s member states. The EU’s attempts to strengthen relations with the Mediterranean countries on a multilevel basis have not rescued women from marginalisation. Nevertheless, during the 2011 awakening, women played an important role in activating civil society. They are still considered as a key part of the fight against terrorism and radicalisation, although in some countries their condition has worsened after secular regimes have been downturned. The number of migrant women has increased and, not differently from men, they are looking for opportunities and better conditions of life while Western media tend to present them in a stereotyped way either as traumatized victim and/or as caring mother. There are other misleading common places, which need to be better conceptualised and understood, such as the alleged incompatibility between Islam and women rights. Unfortunately, women’s rights are still under attack even in European countries where they are considered consolidated. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of the Journal of the Balkans and Near Eastern Studies.

Has democracy in Indonesia brought about welfare for its citizens? If yes, how does it work? What types of channels to materialize welfare program for citizens? And how does this effort really work at the local level? This book attempts to answer those above questions, by focusing on so-called “welfare regime” at the local level in Indonesia. The research was conducted at seven areas, ranging from labour sector in Bekasi West Java, humanitarian in post-disaster areas in Aceh, rural and agriculture based area in Kulon Progo Yogyakarta, a multicultural city of Medan North Sumatera, operated by religious/communal institutions, and market, rather than democratic channels such as political parties.This book reiterates the importance of context in the study of welfare development. It means that the study of welfare regime needs to put more account in understanding the history of nation-state building, character of economic development, and structure of social capital, rather than simply to evaluate the existence of bunch of social policies introduced by the state.Given those complexities and pluralistic nature of the welfare schemes in Indonesia, this book is aimed to discuss “the various regimes of welfare provision (state, market and societal-based), how those schemes work in a diverse context, and to what extent those schemes could help us in understanding the development of welfare regimes in the global-south?” The cases presented in chapters of this book show the state of pluralism of welfare development in Indonesia. The pluralistic mode of the welfare schemes reflects different spaces of solidarity and dynamics of the welfare schemes in different contexts, including in some abnormal situations.

This book looks at the provision of finance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by the IMF and World Bank in return for economic liberalization, exploring the political motivations of funding and geo-politics in recipients. The effectiveness of funding is questioned, with evidence from four MENA countries.

Written by internationally renowned author and scholar James Midgley, Social Welfare for a Global Era provides a comprehensive framework for examining social welfare from a global perspective. Drawing on a large body of literature and his own extensive knowledge of the field, Dr. Midgley offers students, scholars, and practitioners an up-to-date account of the complex ways social well-being is enhanced in the global era, including the major welfare institutions that provide a cultural context for social welfare policy and practice.

How, if at all, do Muslims and non-Muslims differ? The question spurs spirited discussion among people the world over, in Muslim and non-Muslim lands alike, but we still lack answers based on sound empirical evidence. This book engages a set of the biggest issues using rigorous methods and data drawn from around the globe. It reveals that in some areas Muslims and non-Muslims differ less than is commonly imagined, and shows that Muslims are not unusually religious or inclined to favor the fusion of religious and political authority. Nor are Muslims especially prone to mass political violence. Yet in some areas Muslims and non-Muslims diverge: Gender inequality is more severe among Muslims, Muslims are unusually intolerant of homosexuality and other controversial behaviors, and democracy is rare in the Muslim world. Other areas of divergence bear the marks of a Muslim advantage: Violent crime and class-based inequities are less severe among Muslims than non-Muslims. Committed to discovering social facts rather than either stoking prejudices or stroking political sensibilities, Are Muslims Distinctive? represents the first major scientific effort to assess how Muslims and non-Muslims differ--and do not differ--in the contemporary world. Its findings have vital implications for human welfare, interfaith understanding, and the foreign policies of the United States and other Western countries.