The Union's noncompliance with any of the standards of gay rights protection it had at its disposal in 1997, when the pre-accession Regular Reporting of the East European applicants for membership commenced, did not prevent it from promoting gay rights protection as a necessary pre-accession...

In this chapter we provide an analysis of European Union (EU) narratives and policies with respect to mass mobilisations in Eastern Europe (EE) and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Specifically, the focus here is on the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution’ and the recent...

Abstract: This paper looks at the links between cultural variables, knowledge indices and entrepreneurship in Arab countries. It uses the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and World Bank data to show how these variables are connected. The outputs from Arab countries are also compared to those...

The Arab Countries in Transition (ACTs) have had diverging trajectories over the past year and face an uncertain outlook.1 Improvements in the European economy, lower oil prices, and some progress on the policy front have provided tailwinds to growth, which is expected to pick up significantly...

In spite of deepening and spreading conflicts in the region, as well as, in many cases, a challenging internal socio-political environment, the Arab Countries in Transition (Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen) have broadly maintained macroeconomic stability. At the same time,...

In an environment of heightened socio-economic tensions, regional insecurity, and strained public finances, the Arab Countries in Transition (ACTs) 1 face the difficult task of delivering on the expectations for jobs and growth. Despite patchy improvements in some countries, economic growth...