Deck 14: The Middle East and North Africa: Things Fall Apart

Question 1

Describe some of the significant political divisions and interstate alliances in the Middle East since 2011.

Answer 1

No Answer.

Question 2

Which Middle East countries are best prepared to face the challenges of globalization? Explain.

Answer 2

No Answer.

Question 3

Has the Arab Spring lived up to its promises? In what ways has it changed some countries for the better? What were unintended negative consequences? What does this tell us about our ability as IPE scholars to predict how complex social trends will unfold in the future?

Answer 3

No Answer.

Question 4

None of the MENA's monarchical regimes (in Jordan, Morocco, and the GCC countries) was ousted during the Arab Spring. What factors might explain why these regimes have been relatively stable compared to those in Yemen, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia?

Question 5

Explain some of the reasons why the Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.

Question 6

Describe several examples of how instability in the Middle East and North Africa has been caused by one of these factors:
a) efforts by outside powers to gain influence;
b) acts of aggressive regional powers; or
c) state oppression and counterinsurgency.

Question 7

What do scholars believe are some of the main impediments to the spread of democracy in the Middle East and North Africa?

Question 8

In what Arab territories does Israel maintain settlements? Are Israeli or Arab policies mostly to blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Question 9

What are some of the reasons for the spread of Sunni Islamist extremism and jihadism since the 1980s?

Question 10

Is it fair to say that the United States has betrayed its own stated values and principles in the MENA since 1990?

Question 11

In what ways has the United States contributed to or caused conflict in the MENA?

Question 12

In what ways have Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel exacerbated conflicts in the Middle East or impeded conflict resolution?

Question 13

In what ways is the MENA deeply integrated into the global economy?

Question 14

What trends suggest that the MENA is "falling behind" in the global economy, i.e., not becoming more competitive, not fully using its human capital, and not transforming its economic structures?

Question 15

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A) Morocco is a low-income, significantly agricultural, non-oil-exporting country.
B) Egypt, Libya, and Algeria were former European colonies.
C) Iran was an ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
D) Average MENA growth rates in the 1950s and 1960s were higher than in the 1980s and 1990s.

Question 16

Which of these countries has a relatively low per capita GDP and does not export oil?

A) Saudi Arabia
B) Iraq
C) Iran
D) Morocco

Question 17

Which statement is incorrect?

A) Approximately 17 percent of Israelis are Muslims.
B) Christians are a substantial minority in Egypt and Lebanon.
C) Most MENA Muslims are Shi'ites.
D) _{Millions of people in North Africa speak a Berber language.}

Question 18

Which of these countries does not have a significant Shia Muslim population?

A) Syria
B) Iran
C) Lebanon
D) Egypt
E) Iraq

Question 19

The first two countries in which leaders were overthrown during the Arab Spring were

A) Libya and Syria.
B) Tunisia and Libya.
C) Yemen and Egypt.
D) Tunisia and Egypt.

Question 20

Which of the following is not cited as an impediment to democracy?

A) civil society characteristics
B) rentier states
C) lack of oil
D) access of women to the workforce and leadership roles

Question 21

Which of the following is an important consequence of the Arab Spring?

A) Islamist political parties have refused to participate in democratic elections.
B) Sunnis and Shi'ites have made significant steps towards political reconciliation in many countries.
C) Some Arab leaders allied with the United States were overthrown.
D) Economic conditions have significantly improved in countries that have held fair elections.

Question 22

As of mid-2018, Bashar al-Assad, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi were the leaders of which respective countries?

A) Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel
B) Syria, Turkey, and Egypt
C) Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt
D) Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Libya

Question 23

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A) relatively little trade occurs between Arab countries, compared to their overall trade with the rest of the world
B) Jordan and Saudi Arabia are covert suppliers of weapons to Hizballah in Lebanon
C) Iran is allied with Hizballah in Lebanon and the Assad regime in Syria.
D) In the last 25 years, the United States has imposed significant economic sanctions on Iraq and Iran.

Question 24

Which of following is not a characteristic of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries?

A) Expatriates make up a large percentage of the workforce.
B) The workforces include large numbers of Egyptians, Indians, Pakistanis, and Filipinos.
C) Most foreign workers have permanent residency or citizenship.
D) In the 1970s, most immigrant workers came from Arab countries.

Question 25

Which statement about the MENA would a structuralist most likely disagree with?

A) Dubai's success rests on the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of poor Asians.
B) The MENA has weak industrialization and great disparities of wealth.
C) U.S. arms sellers and oil companies benefit from periodic outbreaks of war in the Middle East.
D) Sovereign wealth funds are a potential threat to U.S. national security.

Question 26

Which data below is significantly higher than indicated in the text?

A) In 2016-2017 there were some 52,600 Saudis studying in the United States.
B) In 2015-2016, 32,000 U.S. college students were in a study-abroad program in the MENA.
C) There are about 8 million first-generation immigrants from the Arab world and Turkey living in Europe.
D) More than half of the crude oil China consumes comes from MENA countries.

Question 27

Which three MENA countries send the highest number of students to study in U.S. universities?

A) Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain
B) Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria
C) Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco
D) Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey

Question 28

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the highest number of immigrants to the United States who were born in the Middle East came from which two countries?

A) Egypt and Israel
B) Lebanon and Syria
C) Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
D) Iran and Iraq

Question 29

Israel has never occupied or built settlements in which territory?

A) Northern Iraq
B) Gaza Strip
C) Sinai Peninsula
D) West Bank

Question 30

In 2014, ISIS (Islamic State) established control over large swathes of territory in which two countries?

A) Syria and Iraq
B) Syria and Lebanon
C) Iraq and Iran
D) Egypt and Syria

Question 31

Which of these definitions is incorrect?

A) The Muslim Brotherhood is a violent jihadist movement with branches in Egypt, the Palestinian Territories, and other Arab countries.
B) Civil society is made up of relatively autonomous social groups such as labor unions and voluntary associations.
C) A rentier state gets a large percentage of its government revenues from oil exports.
D) Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are investment funds owned by governments.

Question 32

Which of these statements is incorrect?

A) The Arab Gulf countries have one of the lowest rates of female employment in the world.
B) The Middle East lacks a culture of entrepreneurship.
C) The West Bank and Gaza rely heavily on remittances and foreign aid.
D) There are an estimated 91,000 Chinese workers in Algeria.