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Governance and Institutions in MENA

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Sheraton Grand Chicago, Grant Park
Hosted By: Middle East Economic Association
  • Chair: Jeffrey Nugent, University of Southern California

The Relationship between Democracy and Corruption in MENA Countries

Kamel Si Mohammed
,
Ain Temouchent University

Abstract

The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between democracy and corruption using a Dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) during the period 1984-2013 in 13 MENA countries namely Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.<br />
Our results captured the GDP per capita is feed corruption in MENA countries, while one percent of per capita GDP rise corruption about 0.73 and lead to lose more than 0.23 in MENA net oil and gas exporting countries except United Arab Emirates (See Omgba (2015); Haber and Menaldo (2011)). In this context, magnitude of impacts in countries non-oil producers is less dependent with corruption over the last decade compared the two early decades and compares an oil and gas exporting countries. Thus, the high income states of the oil exporting countries would not have been decreased corruption level, (See Jetter (2015), Rachdi and Saidi (2014)). Finally, our finding present a positive significantly associated between democracy and corruption, the influence of positive feedback around about 0.5 points in regressors. According to this estimation, the lower democratization process in MENA countries highly depends to high levels of corruption

How Muslims Understand Democracy? An Empirical Investigation

Moamen Gouda
,
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Shireen Alazzawi
,
Santa Clara University

Abstract

This study examines how Muslims understand democracy and its essential components. We hypothesize that, although Muslims tend to value democracy as high as non-Muslims, Muslims may have a unique understanding of procedural, as well as substantive, components of democracy, which is significantly different from non-Muslims. Employing the latest data from World Values Survey, our descriptive statistics suggest that while Muslims highly value democracy, and believe they don’t have enough of it, their notion of democracy is distinct from that of non-Muslims. Muslims tend to associate democracy with its perceived outcomes, and do not have a substantial reservation against the interference of the army or religious authorities in the governing process. On the other hand, they view procedural aspects of democracy, such as elections, civil rights and gender equality, as less essential than their non-Muslim counterparts. We then use ordered logit regression model, controlling for various macro-, as well as micro-level determinants of democracy. Our regression results show that the determinants of Muslims’ attitudes towards democracy, and its different notions, are considerably distinct from those of non-Muslims.

Democratic Institutions and Prosperity - The Special Case of the Middle Eastern Countries

Helena Helfer
,
University of Muenster

Abstract

Even though it has been part of scholarly discourse for decades, theoretical and empirical evidence on the relationship between democratic institutions and economic prosperity remains ambiguous. The proposed study adds to this discussion by investigating the special case of Middle Eastern countries. The empirical analysis relies on a novel bundled approach for measuring democratic institutions. While we observe various democratic and non-democratic regime types across Middle Eastern countries, also non-democratic countries can be committed to institutions that are inherent in democracy, thus providing a common ground for analysis. The chosen bundled approach of institutional measurement is especially insightful since it takes interrelations between institutions into account that tend to be overlooked in many empirical studies, which estimate prosperity effects of single institutions only. The composite index the proposed paper allows for two levels of bundled analyses: firstly, on the dimensional level of political, economic and societal institutions, and secondly, on the overall level of democracy.
The study presents evidence that a higher initial level of economic prosperity results in a smaller prosperity-enhancing effect of the three institutional bundles and of the overall index across all Middle Eastern Countries. The study will also compare evidence from contextual clusters among the Middle Eastern countries, e.g. from clusters along the lines of oil production, political regime type and geographic location. In particular, evidence on the respective institutional bundles that are most prosperity-enhancing in each cluster region will be presented, thus providing indicative practical policy implications. Taking endogeneity concerns with regard to the composite index into account, the findings will be substantiated using an instrument variable approach. The results of the study are representative for a panel observing the years from 1995 to 2010

Socioeconomic Drivers of the Spread of the Tunisian Revolution

Daniel Egel
,
RAND Corporation

Abstract

Tunisia's revolution spread rapidly. Beginning in a small town far from the capital, riots and protests soon engulfed more than half of Tunisia's delegations, culminating in the removal of Tunisia's president on the 29th day of the riots. This analysis examines the impact of geographic and socioeconomic factors on the onset and spread of political violence during the 29 days of rioting. We find that the spread of political violence was not driven by geographic proximity -- indeed, political violence was significantly less likely in delegations that had a nearby neighbor that had already experienced rioting -- but instead by socioeconomic proximity. Further, we provide quantitative evidence that university graduates and access to broadcasting news sources played a leading role in both the onset and spread of Tunisia's rioting.
JEL Classifications
  • P4 - Other Economic Systems
  • R0 - General