The Middle East and South Asia 2018-2019

The Middle East and South Asia 2018-2019
Author: Seth Cantey
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-10-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1475841582

This annually updated volume of the World Today Series is designed to place in context the passionate controversies and emotional attachments of the two billion people who live, study, work, and die in the Middle East and South Asia. Despite room for optimism in some areas, many parts of the Middle East and South Asia continue to face extraordinary challenges and difficult outlooks. Much of this has to do with conflict across the region, which extends well beyond atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State and the Assad regime in Syria.This volume depicts a region where hundreds of millions seek dignity as humans and respect from their governments. This volume helps the general reader understand recent and past developments from these countries.

Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a 'Multiplex World'

Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a 'Multiplex World'
Author: Mojtaba Mahdavi
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2022-03-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9004510001

The contemporary Sino-MENA-Asia relations and the Belt and Road Initiative are in the making in an emerging 'multiplex world'. This edited volume includes new researches in fifteen chapters, examining China’s complex relations with Iran, Turkey, Egypt, GCC, Pakistan, central and south Asia.

China's Economic and Political Presence in the Middle East and South Asia

China's Economic and Political Presence in the Middle East and South Asia
Author: Mehran Haghirian
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2022-09-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000642429

This book explores a range of key issues connected to China’s relations with countries in the Middle East and South Asia. It discusses economic and political connections, and projects which have arisen as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It covers both important countries in the Middle East, and also Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It examines current contentious issues including Iranian sanctions and the war in Syria, and assesses the roles of other powers such as Russia, Turkey and Israel insofar as they affect China’s relationships. Overall, the book presents many new perspectives on the subject, with many of the perspectives representing the view from the countries of the Middle East and South Asia.

South Asia's Hotspots

South Asia's Hotspots
Author: Muthukumara Mani
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2018-07-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464811563

South Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Most previous studies have focused on the projected impacts of sea-level rise or extreme weather - droughts, floods, heatwaves and storm surges. This study adds to that knowledge by identifying the impacts of long-term changes in the climate †“ rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns †“ on living standards. It does so by first building an understanding of the relationship between current climate conditions and living standards across South Asia. The study also identifies the set of climate models that are best suited for projecting long-term changes in climate across South Asia. This novel understanding of living standards and climate change is then combined to project impacts of long-term changes in climate on living standards in South Asia. The study finds that higher temperatures will reduce living standards for most of South Asia, with the severity impacts depending on future global greenhouse gas emissions. The study projects “hotspots†?, which are locations where long-term changes in climate will have negative impacts on living standards. Many hotspots are in locations that hitherto have not been identified as particularly vulnerable to climate change. Moreover, hotspots have distinguishing features that vary from country to country. This detailed assessment provides a mosaic of information that enriches our understanding of how climate change will impact people and which populations are most vulnerable. The report also provides guidance on the kinds of actions are most likely to reduce impacts of climate change in each country. The study is a major contribution to our understanding of how increasing temperatures and changing precipitation patterns interact with social and economic structures at a fine granular level across South Asia.

Afghanistan Rising

Afghanistan Rising
Author: Faiz Ahmed
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2017-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674971949

Debunking conventional narratives of Afghanistan as a perennial war zone and the rule of law as a secular-liberal monopoly, Faiz Ahmed presents a vibrant account of the first Muslim-majority country to gain independence, codify its own laws, and ratify a constitution after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Afghanistan Rising illustrates how turn-of-the-twentieth-century Kabul--far from being a landlocked wilderness or remote frontier--became a magnet for itinerant scholars and statesmen shuttling between Ottoman and British imperial domains. Tracing the country's longstanding but often ignored scholarly and educational ties to Baghdad, Damascus, and Istanbul as well as greater Delhi and Lahore, Ahmed explains how the court of Kabul attracted thinkers eager to craft a modern state within the interpretive traditions of Islamic law and ethics, or shariʿa, and international norms of legality. From Turkish lawyers and Arab officers to Pashtun clerics and Indian bureaucrats, this rich narrative focuses on encounters between divergent streams of modern Muslim thought and politics, beginning with the Sublime Porte's first mission to Afghanistan in 1877 and concluding with the collapse of Ottoman rule after World War I. By unearthing a lost history behind Afghanistan's founding national charter, Ahmed shows how debates today on Islam, governance, and the rule of law have deep roots in a beleaguered land. Based on archival research in six countries and as many languages, Afghanistan Rising rediscovers a time when Kabul stood proudly as a center of constitutional politics, Muslim cosmopolitanism, and contested visions of reform in the greater Islamicate world.

China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Africa, and the Middle East

China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Africa, and the Middle East
Author: Jean-Marc F. Blanchard
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2020-11-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9813340134

This book analyzes the progress of the MSRI, highlights the political and economic factors affecting its realization, and offers insights into the political and economic implications of China’s endeavor. It focuses specifically on countries within Africa and the Middle East to provide a basis for a substantive examination of these issues in a manner sensitive to the milieu in individual countries and relevant regions. It represents the final volume in a well-received series on China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI), which, so far, includes books covering China’s MSRI and South Asia (Palgrave, 2018) and China’s MSRI and Southeast Asia (Palgrave, 2019). This book will interest scholars of China, international relations, and the relevant regions, journalists, and policymakers.

Asian Development Outlook 2018

Asian Development Outlook 2018
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
Total Pages: 650
Release: 2018-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9292611216

The annual Asian Development Outlook analyzes economic performance in the past year and offers forecasts for the next 2 years for the 45 economies in Asia and the Pacific that make up developing Asia. Growth prospects in the region are upbeat, buoyed by favorable demand at home and abroad. A strong performance in 2017 reflected a surge in exports, which will likely abate this year and next, and rapidly expanding domestic demand. While the outlook is for steady growth, risks to it are decidedly on the downside: Trade friction could weaken recently deepened trade links, tightening US monetary policy could diminish investment in developing Asia, and rising domestic private debt may hamper growth. New technologies drive higher productivity, the foundation for economic growth, better-paid jobs, and poverty reduction. The latest technologies in robotics and artificial intelligence may threaten some jobs, however, and leave less-skilled workers behind. To maximize gains in productivity while safeguarding social welfare, governments in developing Asia should protect workers but not preserve particular jobs. Meanwhile, they should facilitate the countervailing forces in new technologies that generate new jobs. Dealing with the downsides of new technology requires synchronized effort on skills development, labor regulation, social protection, and income redistribution.

Islam in Southeast Asia

Islam in Southeast Asia
Author: Norshahril Saat
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2018-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9814786993

"Islam in the Malay world of Southeast Asia or Islam Nusantara, as it has come to be known, had for a long time been seen as representing the more spiritual and Sufi dimension of Islam, thereby striking a balance between the exoteric and the esoteric. This image of 'the smiling face of Islam' has been disturbed during the last decades with increasing calls for the implementation of Shari’ah, conceived of in a narrow manner, intolerant discourse against non-Muslim communities, and hate speech against minority Muslims such as the Shi’ites. There has also been what some have referred to as the Salafization of Sunni Muslims in the region. The chapters of this volume are written by scholars and activists from the region who are very perceptive of such trends in Malay world Islam and promise to improve our understanding of developments that are sometimes difficult to grapple with." — Professor Syed Farid Alatas, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore

Is South Asia Ready for Take Off?

Is South Asia Ready for Take Off?
Author: Mr.Ranil M Salgado
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2019-11-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513518291

Since the mid-1980s, durable reforms coupled with prudent macroeconomic management have brought steady progress to the South Asia region, making it one of the world’s fastest growing regions. Real GDP growth has steadily increased from an average of about 3 percent in the 1970s to 7 percent over the last decade. Although growth trajectories varied across countries, reforms supported strong per capita income growth in the region, lifting over 200 million people out of poverty in the last three decades. Today, South Asia accounts for one-fifth of the world’s population and, thanks to India’s increasing performance, contributes to over 15 percent of global growth. Looking ahead, the authors find that South Asia is poised to play an even bigger role in the global economy, in both relative and absolute terms. India has overtaken China as the fastest growing large economy and South Asia’s contribution to global growth is set to increase, while more mature economies decelerate. Greater economic diversification, with an expansion of the service sector, improvements in education, and a still sizable demographic dividend are among the key elements underpinning this performance. Based on demographic trends, more than 150 million people in the region are expected to enter the labor market by 2030. This young and large workforce can be South Asia’s strength, if supported by a successful high-quality and job-rich growth strategy. Amid a changing global economic landscape, the authors argue that South Asia will need to leverage on all sectors of the economy in a balanced way, supporting improvements in agricultural productivity and a sustainable expansion of manufacturing, while promoting higher-skill services, to achieve this goal.