ECONOMIC POLICIES OF ISLAMIC COUNTRIES

Within the framework of the course in Language, Politics and Economics of the Arab countries, this teaching is aimed at providing students with the analytical and methodological background tools to understand the major economic and social dynamics that have been characterizing Arab countries since their independence. The Arab world is currently faced with several socio-economic challenges, such as high levels of unemployment, labour precariousness, huge social inequalities, a fragile production structure, and scarcely diversified economies, strongly dependent on exogenous rents, and a dramatic food crisis. However, there exist significant political and socio-economic differences among Arab countries, which need to be taken into account in order to well understand the complexity of this geographical area and its current developments and problems. Studying the socio-economic problems of the Arab region as well as the social and economic policies explaining them through a historical perspective is necessary for a correct and deep understanding of current problems and future perspectives.

i) The course will allow students to acquire a good knowledge of the following issues:
- Major socio-economic characteristics and problems of the Arab region;
- History of social and economic policies pursued from the post-independence period until now.

ii) A country-case study approach (with a focus on Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia) will enable students to develop a specific awareness and understanding of the different political economies of the Arab region.

iii) By examining a plurality of perspectives and interpretations, students will learn to adopt a critical approach in assessing past and current social and economic policies in the Arab region.

Knowledge of English
Background knowledge of the contemporary history of Arab countries

The course will be structured around three parts.

i) The first part will present major economic and social problems of Arab countries (lack of diversification, high disparities, labour problems, food import dependency and so on).

ii) The second part will explain the reasons behind such problems by analysing the major social and economic policies implemented from the post-independence period until today, specifically:
- State centred policies and import substituting industrialization (in the 1960s-1970s)
- Neoliberal economic policies and structural adjustment programs (since the mid-1980s until today).

iii) The third part will assess the social, economic and political implications of neoliberal reforms in selected countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Attending students are expected to carry out group activities on a selected country aimed at preparing a final presentation.

FOR ATTENDING STUDENTS:

For the oral examination on the first and second parts:
- Paciello, M.C. (2010), Introduzione all’economia del mondo arabo, Edizione Nuova Cultura, Università La Sapienza, Roma
- The power-point presentations of the lectures (available on moodle platform - https://moodle.unive.it/login/index.php - after each lesson).

For the third part, attending students are not required to do oral examination. They will be assessed on the basis of their class presentation (more information will be available at the beginning of the class).

FOR NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS:
For the oral examination on the first and second parts:
- Paciello, M.C. (2010), Introduzione all’economia del mondo arabo, Edizione Nuova Cultura, Università La Sapienza, Roma (manuale di riferimento per la prima e la seconda parte del corso).
- The power-point presentations of the lectures (available on moodle platform - https://moodle.unive.it/login/index.php - after each lesson).

For the oral examination on the third part, not attending students are required to select one case study from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The list of articles and chapters for the exam will be made available on the moodle platform (a.a. 2022-2023).

The topics covered in class will be discussed with students by reflecting on specific questions raised by the professor.

At the end of the course, all students are required to do an oral examination on the first and second part of the program.

In addition, as far as the third part is concerned (on a selected country), attending students are expected to do a final presentation in class, while not attending students will have to sustain an oral examination.

- Power-point presentations
- Case study analysis
- Group activities
- Analysis of audio sources and videos
- Analysis of secondary sources (academic literature) and primary sources (interviews, official documents, statistical data..)
- Complementary readings on the covered topics (not compulsory for the exam)

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development