Download or read book The Report Bahrain 2015 written by Oxford Business Group and published by Oxford Business Group. This book was released on 2015-02-27 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The kingdom rose to prominence as the region’s financial hub in the 1970s and today, despite increasing competition from its neighbours, it is bolstering this position as it leads the way in the Islamic banking segment, hosting the highest concentration of Islamic financial institutions globally. The takaful segment represents one of the fastest growing segments in Bahrain’s insurance sector, itself boasting the highest insurance penetration rate in the GCC. Meanwhile a rising population is driving housing and transport infrastructure in the country with private contractors benefitting as a result. Looking forward, these expansions to rail and air links should boost the kingdom’s tourism offering, with tourism’s contribution to GDP expected to grow significantly over the next 10 years, while elsewhere the projects will drive Bahrain’s role as a regional logistics centre, with the kingdom aiming to position itself as a key entry point to the GCC moving forward.

Download or read book Bahrain s Uprising written by Ala'a Shehabi and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amid the extensive coverage of the Arab uprisings, the Gulf state of Bahrain has been almost forgotten. Fusing historical and contemporary analysis, Bahrain’s Uprising seeks to fill this gap, examining the ongoing protests and state repression that continues today. Drawing on powerful testimonies, interviews, and conversations from those involved, this broad collection of writings by scholars and activists provides a rarely heard voice of the lived experience of Bahrainis, describing the way in which a sophisticated society, defined by a historical struggle, continues to hamper the efforts of the ruling elite to rebrand itself as a liberal monarchy.

Download or read book Freedom in the World 2015 written by Freedom House and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-12-24 with total page 877 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 195 countries and fourteen territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

Download or read book City of Strangers written by Andrew M. Gardner and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-05-02 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In City of Strangers, Andrew M. Gardner explores the everyday experiences of workers from India who have migrated to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Like all the petroleum-rich states of the Persian Gulf, Bahrain hosts an extraordinarily large population of transmigrant laborers. Guest workers, who make up nearly half of the country's population, have long labored under a sponsorship system, the kafala, that organizes the flow of migrants from South Asia to the Gulf states and contractually links each laborer to a specific citizen or institution. In order to remain in Bahrain, the worker is almost entirely dependent on his sponsor's goodwill. The nature of this relationship, Gardner contends, often leads to exploitation and sometimes violence. Through extensive observation and interviews Gardner focuses on three groups in Bahrain: the unskilled Indian laborers who make up the most substantial portion of the foreign workforce on the island; the country's entrepreneurial and professional Indian middle class; and Bahraini state and citizenry. He contends that the social segregation and structural violence produced by Bahrain's kafala system result from a strategic arrangement by which the state insulates citizens from the global and neoliberal flows that, paradoxically, are central to the nation's intended path to the future. City of Strangers contributes significantly to our understanding of politics and society among the states of the Arabian Peninsula and of the migrant labor phenomenon that is an increasingly important aspect of globalization.

Download or read book Sectarian Gulf written by Toby Matthiesen and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-03 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As popular uprisings spread across the Middle East, popular wisdom often held that the Gulf States would remain beyond the fray. In Sectarian Gulf, Toby Matthiesen paints a very different picture, offering the first assessment of the Arab Spring across the region. With first-hand accounts of events in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, Matthiesen tells the story of the early protests, and illuminates how the regimes quickly suppressed these movements. Pitting citizen against citizen, the regimes have warned of an increasing threat from the Shia population. Relations between the Gulf regimes and their Shia citizens have soured to levels as bad as 1979, following the Iranian revolution. Since the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain in mid-March 2011, the "Shia threat" has again become the catchall answer to demands for democratic reform and accountability. While this strategy has ensured regime survival in the short term, Matthiesen warns of the dire consequences this will have—for the social fabric of the Gulf States, for the rise of transnational Islamist networks, and for the future of the Middle East.

Download or read book The Report Bahrain 2011 written by and published by Oxford Business Group. This book was released on with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Bahrain written by United States United States Department of State and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-06-17 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The investment climate in the Kingdom of Bahrain is generally good, and has remained relatively stable in the last year. Bahrain has a liberal approach to foreign investment and actively seeks to attract foreign investors and businesses. In an economy largely dominated by state owned enterprises (SOE's), the Government of Bahrain (GOB) aims to foster a greater role for the private sector in economic growth. The efforts focus on encouraging foreign direct investment in Bahrain, including in the information and communications technology (ICT), education and training services, tourism, financial services, business services, healthcare services, energy, and aluminum sectors. The U.S.-Bahrain Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) entered into force in May 2001 and the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA) entered into force in January 2006. The BIT provides benefits and protection to U.S. investors in Bahrain, for example, most-favored nation treatment, the right to make financial transfers freely and without delay, international law standards for expropriation and compensation cases, and access to international arbitration. The BIT guarantees national treatment for U.S. investments across all sectors, with very few exceptions. American firms interested in selling products exclusively in Bahrain are no longer required to appoint a commercial agent. Bahrain allows 100 percent foreign-ownership of new industrial entities and the establishment of representative offices or branches of foreign companies without local sponsors. Under the U.S.-Bahrain FTA, Bahrain is committed to enforcing world-class Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection. Despite the GOB's transparent, rules-based government procurement system, U.S. companies have reported operating at a perceived disadvantage compared with other firms in certain government procurements. Some businesses report contracts are not always awarded solely based on price and technical merit. Many ministries require firms to pre-qualify prior to bidding on a tender, often rendering firms with little prior experience in Bahrain ineligible to bid on major tenders. U.S. firms sometimes report perceived high-level corruption is an obstacle to foreign direct investment. Petty corruption, however, is relatively rare in Bahrain. The bureaucracy is sometimes inefficient, but generally honest. Giving or accepting a bribe is illegal, although relevant laws are enforced with some degree of inconsistency. In February 2011, a period of political and civil unrest began in Bahrain. While the situation today is quite different and far more stable than in 2011, demonstrations continue to occur, occasionally developing into violent clashes by demonstrators against police. These violent clashes, when they occur, sometimes make travel in and around parts of Bahrain potentially dangerous. There are no indications that Westerners or U.S. citizens are being targeted directly, but there have been isolated incidents in which protesters voiced anti-U.S. sentiments and burned U.S. flags. The unrest has had a limited impact on American businesses in Bahrain. The Kingdom of Bahrain held Parliamentary elections in November 2014, during which the business community played an active role. These were the first elections held since constitutional reforms enacted in 2012 gave the legislative branch powers to discuss and approve a Government Action Plan (GAP). In February 2015, the newly-elected parliament approved the 2015-2018 GAP, which included plans to build 25,000 housing units, additional infrastructure development, and minor health care reforms.

Download or read book The Report written by and published by Oxford Business Group. This book was released on 2012-10 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Group Conflict and Political Mobilization in Bahrain and the Arab Gulf written by Justin Gengler and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Invaluable to anyone wanting a fuller understanding of the economic, political, and religious tensions within Bahrain.” —The Sociological Imagination The oil-producing states of the Arab Gulf are said to sink or swim on their capacity for political appeasement through economic redistribution. Yet, during the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring, in Bahrain and all across the Arab Gulf, ordinary citizens showed an unexpected enthusiasm for political protest directed against governments widely assumed to have co-opted their support with oil revenues. Justin Gengler draws on the first-ever mass political survey in Bahrain to demonstrate that neither is the state willing to offer all citizens the same bargain, nor are all citizens willing to accept it. Instead, shared social and religious identities offer a viable basis for mass political coordination. Challenging the prevailing rentier interpretation of political life in the Gulf states, Gengler offers new empirical evidence and a new conceptual framework for understanding the attitudes of ordinary citizens.

Download or read book World Report 2015 written by Human Rights Watch and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories is put into perspective in Human Rights Watch’s signature yearly report, which, in the 2014 volume, highlighted the armed conflict in Syria, international drug reform, drones and electronic mass surveillance, and more, and also featured photo essays of child marriage in South Sudan, the cost of the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia, and religious fighting in Central African Republic. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken in 2014 by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report 2015 is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.

Download or read book 2016 Global Food Policy Report written by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-03-31 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Global Food Policy Report is IFPRI’s flagship publication. This year’s annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report also proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly.

Download or read book British Diplomacy in Oman and Bahrain written by Joe Worthington and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book marks the first comprehensive examination of contemporary British influence in Oman and Bahrain, analysing Britain’s legacy since the official withdrawal from the Gulf in 1971. Using theories of power as a framework, the book examines the development of British economic, strategic, and political influence in the two countries post-withdrawal, a topic overlooked by academics and political observers. The author argues that a divergence has developed between Britain’s influence in Oman (a site of strategic power) and Bahrain (a site of economic power). Focusing on the British Government, private corporations, and individuals, topics range from the development of British Foreign Direct Investments and the presence of British oil and gas companies in the region to joint defence training exercises and the presence of Omani and Bahraini military cadets in British military academies. The book also crucially assesses the increasing influence that the Gulf states are gaining over Britain as the legacy of the Residency gradually fades. British Diplomacy in Oman and Bahrain will be useful to students and scholars studying politics and economics in the Gulf and Britain, as well as policy analysts, international relations experts, and historians interested in the legacy of colonialism.

Download or read book Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula written by Karen Exell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula is dedicated to the recent and rapid high-profile development of museums in the Arabian Peninsula, focusing on the a number of the Arabian Peninsula states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and theUAE. These Gulf states are dynamically involved in the establishment of museums to preserve and , represent their distinct national culture and heritage, as well as engaging in the regional and global art worlds through the construction of state-of-the-art art museums. Alongside such developments is a rich world of collection and displaying material culture in homes and private museums that is little known to the outside world. Museum Studies literature has struggled to keep pace with such developments and Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula is the first book to coherently present: a contemporary overview of the ever-evolving landscape of museums and related heritage projects in the Arabian Peninsula a critical evaluation of the nature of these museum projects within the political and cultural conditions in the Arabian Peninsula suggestions for productive ways forward for museum developments in the Arabian Peninsula Museums Studies students and museum professionals now have a book that fills an important gap in the picture of the museum worldwide. Contextualising this study in the history and politics of the region, from a scholar working within the region, this in-depth overview and critical analysis of museums in the Arabian Peninsula stands alone as an entry into this important topic.

Download or read book Beyond Sunni and Shia written by Frederic Wehrey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-01 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection seeks to advance our understanding of intra-Islamic identity conflict during a period of upheaval in the Middle East. Instead of treating distinctions between and within Sunni and Shia Islam as primordial and immutable, it examines how political economy, geopolitics, domestic governance, social media, non- and sub-state groups, and clerical elites have affected the transformation and diffusion of sectarian identities. Particular attention is paid to how conflicts over distribution of political and economic power have taken on a sectarian quality, and how a variety of actors have instrumentalized sectarianism. The volume, covering Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Iran, and Egypt, includes contributors from a broad array of disciplines including political science, history, sociology, and Islamic studies. Beyond Sunni and Shia draws on extensive fieldwork and primary sources to offer insights that are empirically rich and theoretically grounded, but also accessible for policy audiences and the informed public.

Download or read book E Learning in the Middle East and North Africa MENA Region written by Alan S. Weber and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last decade, due to factors of ICT infrastructural and broadband maturation, rising levels of educational attainment and computer literacy, and diversification strategies, e-learning has exploded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, significant barriers remain in the region’s e-learning development: lack of research on outcomes and effectiveness, paucity of Arabic language learning objects, monopolies and high cost of telecommunications, cultural taboos, accreditation, censorship, and teacher training. This unique volume is the first comprehensive effort to describe the history, development, and current state of e-learning in each of the 20 MENA countries from Algeria to Yemen. Each entry is expertly written by a specialist who is acutely familiar with the state of e-learning in their respective country, and concludes with a bibliography of key reports, peer-reviewed books and articles, and web resources. E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) proves itself as a vital compendium for a wide readership that includes academics and students, transnational program directors, international education experts, MENA government departments, commercial vendors and investors, and ICT development and regulatory agencies involved in e-learning in the Middle East.

Download or read book International Labour Migration in the Middle East and Asia written by Kwen Fee Lian and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discourse on migration outcomes in the West has largely been dominated by issues of integration, but it is more relevant to view immigration in non-Western societies in relation to practices of exclusion and inclusion. Exclusion refers to a situation in which individuals and groups are usually denied access to the goods, services, activities and resources associated with citizenship. However, this approach has been criticised in relation to gender issues, which are very relevant to the situation of migrants. The authors in this volume address this criticism. Furthermore, when framed within a North–South discourse, it may be potentially ethnocentric to assume that the experience of exclusion is cross-culturally uniform. Indeed, work on migration issues has invariably been conducted within such a discourse. The contributors go beyond this binary discourse of ‘exclusion versus inclusion’ which has dominated migration research. They examine the situation of migrants in the Middle East and Asia as one that encompasses both exclusion and inclusion, addressing related concepts of empowerment, ethnocracy, the feminisation of migration and gendered geographies of power, liberal constraint and multiculturalism, individual agency, migrant-friendly discourses, spaces of emancipation and spaces of insecurity. The book highlights current research in the Arab Gulf states, and examines multiculturalism in Asia more broadly. It will be of particular interest to students and researchers in international labour migration studies in the Middle East and Asia.

Download or read book Representing the Nation written by Pamela Erskine-Loftus and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-26 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1970s saw the emergence and subsequent proliferation across the Arabian Peninsula of ‘national museums’, institutions aimed at creating social cohesion and affiliation to the state within a disparate population. Representing the Nation examines the wide-ranging use of exhibitionary forms of national identity projection via consideration of their motivations, implications (current and future), possible historical backgrounds, official and unofficial meanings, and meanings for both the user/visitor and the multiple creators. The book responds to, due to the importance placed on tradition, heritage and national identity across all the states of the Peninsula, and the growth of re-imagined and new museums, the need for far greater discussion and research in these areas.