Jordan has survived – and at times even prospered – because of its ability to "sell" its geographical location, stable domestic politics, and pro-Western orientation to the United States and its allies on the Arab side of the Gulf. Considering Jordan’s dearth of other more tangible resources, the path to survival carved by the late King Hussein and his son King Abdullah II was essentially the only one available.
The 17 essays included in this volume depict the Mashreq as a magnet for foreign workers, as a labor pool for unskilled and skilled workers who have fanned out across the Middle East and the world, and as home to one of the world’s largest populations of refugees and internally displaced persons.
This is the second volume of a two-part essay focusing on higher education in the Middle East. This final volume examines yet another feature of the changing landscape of higher education in the region, namely the proliferation of institutional partnerships.
This volume is the first of several collections of essays dealing with the Middle East and the Environment. Importantly, these essays focus less on the problems themselves than on what can and should be done to address them.
Volume II in this series offers snapshots of a small selection of the many efforts aimed at cultivating responsible environmental stewardship in the Middle East.
The last special edition in the MEI series, “Crossing Borders,” explores some of the key public health challenges facing Middle Eastern countries, and the efforts that can, should, and are being made to address them.