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Governance

FSI's research on the origins, character and consequences of government institutions spans continents and academic disciplines. The institute’s senior fellows and their colleagues across Stanford examine the principles of public administration and implementation. Their work focuses on how maternal health care is delivered in rural China, how public action can create wealth and eliminate poverty, and why U.S. immigration reform keeps stalling. 

FSI’s work includes comparative studies of how institutions help resolve policy and societal issues. Scholars aim to clearly define and make sense of the rule of law, examining how it is invoked and applied around the world. 

FSI researchers also investigate government services – trying to understand and measure how they work, whom they serve and how good they are. They assess energy services aimed at helping the poorest people around the world and explore public opinion on torture policies. The Children in Crisis project addresses how child health interventions interact with political reform. Specific research on governance, organizations and security capitalizes on FSI's longstanding interests and looks at how governance and organizational issues affect a nation’s ability to address security and international cooperation.

"We Have Entered a New Historical Era": Larry Diamond on the Future of Democracy

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Larry Diamond
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In these next few minutes, I’d like to reflect on the moment we are at in world history, and what it means for the future of democracy. I know you have already heard a lot today, and will hear more tomorrow, about the war in Ukraine and its global implications. Here is my perspective.

Russia’s brutal and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, which is now about to enter its seventh week, is the most important event in the world since the end of the Cold War.  9/11 changed our lives in profound ways, and even changed the structure of the U.S. Government. It challenged our values, our institutions, and our way of life. But that challenge came from a network of non-state actors and a dead-end violent jihadist ideology that were swiftly degraded. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the larger rising tide of authoritarian power projection, represent the return of great power competition. And more, they denote a new phase of what John F. Kennedy called in his 1961 inaugural address a “long twilight struggle” between two types of political systems and governing philosophies. Two years after JFK’s address, Hannah Arendt put it this way in her book, "On Revolution":

No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom vs. tyranny.

That is what the war in Ukraine, the war FOR Ukraine, is about: not about Ukraine someday joining NATO, but about Ukraine — a country so important to Russia’s cultural heritage and historical self-conception — becoming a free country, a functioning liberal democracy, and thus a negation of and an insult to everything that Vladimir Putin and his kleptocratic Kremlin oligarchy cynically represent.

But it is not simply a “Resurrected Russia” (as Kathryn Stoner has termed it) that is counterposed to the global cause of freedom. The greater long-term threat comes from China’s authoritarian Communist party-state. China has the world’s fastest growing military and the most pervasive and sophisticated system of digital surveillance and control. Its pursuit of global dominance is further aided by the world’s most far-reaching global propaganda machine and a variety of other mechanisms to project sharp power — power that seeks to penetrate the soft tissues of democracy and obtain their acquiescence through means that are covert, coercive, and corrupting. It is this combination of China’s internal repression and its external ambition that makes China’s growing global power so concerning. China is the world’s largest exporter, its second largest importer, and its biggest provider of infrastructure development. It is also the first major nation to deploy a central bank digital currency; and it is challenging for the global lead in such critical technologies as AI, quantum computing, robotics, hypersonics, autonomous and electric vehicles, and advanced telecommunications.

A narrative has been gathering that democracies are corrupt and worn out, lacking in energy, purpose, capacity, and self-confidence. This has been fed by real-world developments which have facilitated the rise of populist challengers to liberal democracy.
Larry Diamond
Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at FSI

While China now innovates in many of these technologies, it also continues to acquire Western intellectual property through a coordinated assault that represents what former NSA Director General Keith Alexander calls “the greatest transfer of wealth in human history.” And every technological innovation that China can possibly militarize it does, through a strategy of “civil-military fusion.” With this accumulated power, Beijing plans to force Asia’s most vibrant liberal democracy, Taiwan, to “reunify with the motherland.” It also seeks to establish unilateral Chinese control over the resources and sea lanes of the South China Sea, and then gradually to push the United States out of Asia.

Russia’s aggression must be understood in this broader context of authoritarian coordination and ambition, challenging the values and norms of the liberal international order, compromising the societal (and where possible, governmental) institutions of rival political systems, and portraying Western democracies — and therefore, really, democracy itself — as weak, decadent, ineffectual, and irresolute. In this telling, the democracies of Europe, Asia, and North America — especially the United States — are too commercially driven, too culturally fractured, too riven by internal and alliance divisions, too weak and effeminate, to put up much of a fight.

At the same time, China, Russia, and other autocracies have been denouncing the geopolitical arrogance of the world’s democracies and confidently declaring an end to the era in which democracies could “intervene in the internal affairs of other countries” by raising uncomfortable questions about human rights. 

On the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping issued a joint statement denouncing Western alliances and declaring that there were no limits to the strategic partnership between their two countries. Many analysts believe Putin told Xi then that he was about to invade Ukraine and that Xi probably said, okay, just wait till the Olympics are over and make it quick. 

Four days after Xi’s closing Olympics fireworks display, Putin launched his own fireworks by invading Ukraine. It has been anything but successful or quick. Xi cannot possibly be pleased by the bloody mess that Putin has made of this, which helps to explain why China twice abstained in crucial UN votes condemning the Russian invasion, rather than join the short list of countries that stood squarely with Russia in voting no: Belarus, Eritrea, Syria, and North Korea. Xi must think that Putin’s shockingly inept and wantonly cruel invasion is giving authoritarianism a bad name.

Russia’s aggression must be understood in this broader context of authoritarian coordination and ambition, challenging the values and norms of the liberal international order and portraying Western democracies as weak.
Larry Diamond
Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at FSI

It is also costing China a lot of money in global trade at a time when China’s economic growth rate has slowed dramatically. And it’s undermining the narrative China was trying to push that the autocracies know what they are doing and represent the wave of the future. Moreover, this is coming at a moment when one of China’s two most important cities, Shanghai, is gripped by panic and a substantial lockdown over the Covid-19 virus, which Xi’s regime has no other means to control except lockdown, because it has refused to admit that the vaccines it developed are largely ineffective against the current strains of Covid, and instead import the vaccines that work.

All of this explains why this moment could represent a possible hinge in history as significant as the 1989-91 period that ended the Cold War. 2021 marked the fifteenth consecutive year of a deepening democratic recession. In both the older democracies of the West and the newer ones of the global South and East, the reputation of democracy has taken a beating. A narrative has been gathering that democracies are corrupt and worn out, lacking in energy, purpose, capacity, and self-confidence. And this has been fed by real-world developments, including the reckless and incompetent US invasion of Iraq, the 2008 financial crisis, steadily rising levels of economic inequality, widespread job losses, economic insecurity and status anxiety due to globalization and technological change, and the challenges of managing cultural diversity amid expanding immigration. These factors have fed or at least facilitated the rise of populist challengers to liberal democracy and the decay of democratic norms and institutions across many democracies — rich, poor, and middle-income. 

The Germans have a word for these trends in the global narrative:  “zeitgeist” — the spirit of the times, or the dominant mood and beliefs of a historical era. In the roughly 75 years since WWII, we have seen five historical periods, each with their own dominant mood. From the mid-1940s to the early 60s, the mood had a strong pro-democracy flavor that went with decolonization. It gave way in the mid-1960s to post-colonial military and executive coups, the polarization and waste of the Vietnam War, and a swing back to realism, with its readiness to embrace dictatorships that took “our side” in the Cold War. Then, third, came a swing back to democracy in southern Europe, Latin America, and East Asia, and a new wave of democracy, from the mid-1970s to around 1990. That period of expanding democracy was then supercharged by a decisively pro-democratic zeitgeist from 1990 to 2005, the so-called unipolar moment in which one liberal democracy, the U.S., predominated. That period ended in the Iraq debacle, and for the last 15 years, we have been in the tightening grip of a democratic recession and a nascent authoritarian zeitgeist. 

Could Russia’s criminal, blundering invasion of Ukraine launch a new wave of democratic progress and a liberal and anti-authoritarian zeitgeist? It could, but it will require the following things.

Freedom is worth fighting for, and democracy, with all its faults, remains the best form of government.
Larry Diamond
Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at FSI

First, Russia must fail in its bid to conquer and extinguish Ukraine. The United States and NATO must do everything possible, and much more than we are doing now, to arm and assist Ukraine militarily, and to punish Russia financially and economically.

Second, we must wage a more effective and comprehensive battle of information and ideas to expose Russia’s mendacity and criminality and to document its war crimes, not only before the court of public opinion, but in ways that reach individual Russians directly and creatively. We need an intense campaign of technological innovation to circumvent authoritarian censorship and empower Russian, Chinese, and other sources that are trying to report the truth about what is happening and to promote critical thinking and the values of the open society. In general, we need to promote democratic narratives and values much more imaginatively and resourcefully. The message of the Russian debacle in Ukraine is an old one and should not be difficult to tell: autocracies are corrupt and prone to massive policy failures precisely because they suppress scrutiny, independent information, and policy debate. Democracies may not be the swiftest decision makers, but they are over time the most reliable and resilient performers.

Third, we must ensure that we perform more effectively as democracies, and with greater coordination among democracies, to meet the challenges of developing and harnessing new technologies, creating new jobs, and reducing social and economic inequalities.

Fourth, to win the technological race, for example in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and many other fields of science, engineering, and production, we must open our doors more widely to the best talent from all over, including China. We URGENTLY need immigration reform to facilitate this. As our late colleague George Shultz said:  Admit the best talent from all over the world to our graduate programs in science and engineering, and then staple green cards to their diplomas.

Finally, we have to reform and defend our democracy in the United States so that it can function effectively to address our major domestic and international challenges, and so that American democracy can once again be seen as a model worth emulating. We cannot do this without reforming the current electoral system of "first-past-the-post" voting and low-turnout party primaries, which has become a kind of death spiral of political polarization, distrust, and defection from democratic norms.

I believe we entered a new historical era on Feb 24. What the Ukrainian people have suffered already in these seven weeks has been horrific, and it will get worse. But the courage and tenacity of their struggle should renew our commitment not only to them but also to ourselves—that freedom is worth fighting for, and that democracy, with all its faults, remains the best form of government.

Larry Diamond

Larry Diamond

Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at FSI
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Some of the original Ukrainian alumni from the Draper Hills Summer Fellowship gather in Kyiv in 2013.
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A History of Unity: A Look at FSI’s Special Relationship with Ukraine

Since 2005, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies has cultivated rich academic ties and friendships with Ukrainian scholars and civic leaders as part of our mission to support democracy and development domestically and abroad.
A History of Unity: A Look at FSI’s Special Relationship with Ukraine
Larry Diamond, center, with the Mosbacher family - Nancy, Bruce, Emily and Jack.
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Larry Diamond Named Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

CDDRL’s Larry Diamond, a world-renowned expert on comparative democracy, is recognized for a career of impact on students, policymakers and democratic activists around the world.
Larry Diamond Named Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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Larry Diamond speaking in the Bechtel Conference Center in Encina Hall
Larry Diamond, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at FSI, speaks in the Bechtel Conference Center at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.
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Speaking at the April 2022 meeting of the FSI Council, Larry Diamond offered his assessment of the present dangers to global democracy and the need to take decisive action in support of liberal values.

You Have Not Yet Been Defeated: A Conversation with Sanaa Seif and Sharif Abdel Kouddous about Human Rights in Egypt

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ARD You Have Not Yet Been Defeated event

In this talk, prominent political activist Sanaa Seif and award-winning journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous will discuss the current political conditions in Egypt, the massive expansion of the carceral state under the rule of Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and the country’s role within the geopolitical shifts reshaping the region. At the heart of the conversation will be the newly released book, You Have Not Yet Been Defeated, authored by Seif's brother Alaa Abdel-Fattah, one of the most high-profile political prisoners in Egypt. The book will be available for purchase at the event.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Sanaa Seif
Sanaa Seif is an Egyptian filmmaker, producer, and political activist. She has been imprisoned three times under the Sisi regime for her activism, most recently from the summer of 2020 until December 2021, when she was abducted by security forces after trying to get a letter in to her brother in prison. Hundreds of cultural figures and dozens of institutions campaigned for her release.

Sharif Abdel-Kouddous
Sharif Abdel Kouddous is an independent journalist based in Cairo. For eight years he worked as a producer and correspondent for the TV/radio news hour Democracy Now! In 2011, he returned to Egypt to cover the revolution. Since then, he has reported for a number of print and broadcast outlets from across the region. He received an Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for his coverage of the Egyptian revolution and an Emmy award for his coverage of the Donald Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban. He is currently an editor and reporter at Mada Masr, Egypt's leading independent media outlet.

This event is co-sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University.​

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In-person and online via Zoom
Encina Commons Room 123
615 Crothers Way, Stanford, CA

Sanaa Seif Political Activist
Sharif Abdel Kouddous Journalist
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Arab Reform and Democracy Speaker Series
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A History of Unity: A Look at FSI’s Special Relationship with Ukraine

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Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine hits close to home – quite literally – for Ukrainian alumni, fellows, and students in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies community.

Shared values and a commitment to democracy, freedom, and civil society define the longstanding relationship between FSI and Ukraine. Since 2005, FSI has trained and educated more than 225 Ukrainians in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program (UELP), the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program, and the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD). The Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow program has also hosted Oleksiy Honcharuk, a former Ukrainian prime minister, for research, writing and teaching.

“We made a big bet way back in 2005 on Ukraine’s cause, and we view it as a frontline country in the global struggle for democracy,” said FSI Director Michael McFaul. He noted FSI’s first effort 17 years ago, the Summer Fellows program, which later became the Draper Hills program, has offered training for mid-career professionals from emerging democracies, including Ukraine among others.

In 2021, in another affirmation of FSI’s special connection with Ukraine, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the institute and gave a historic speech in which he said, “The people of our country love democracy and freedom … we know that anything is possible.” It was the first and only speech Zelenskyy has given so far at an American university.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses an audience at the Freeman Spogli Institute on September 2, 2021 during his historic visit to California and Stanford University.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses an audience at the Freeman Spogli Institute during his historic visit to California and Stanford University. | The Office of the President of Ukraine

FSI scholars are now engaged with their network of Ukrainian alums, checking in on their safety and plans, while also advocating on behalf of a democratic Ukraine in major media outlets. McFaul has given Congressional testimony, written op-eds, been involved in back-channel discussions with senior administration officials, and even appeared on the Stephen Colbert show to discuss the issue. He is the co-editor of "Revolution in Orange," a 2006 book that examines Ukraine’s democratic breakthroughs.

Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow and former director of FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), has recently published articles on the strategic situation in Ukraine while sharing everyone’s deep concerns for Ukrainians under assault.

“We’ve been trying to help them in any way we can,” he said.

To deepen FSI’s expertise on Ukraine, the institute has established a Director’s Fund for Ukraine Initiatives, which will provide discretionary support for research, teaching, and policy outreach on Ukraine.

From Activism to Political Leadership


Well before the Russian invasion, FSI was already helping Ukraine cultivate its democracy.

“Our theory of change,” Fukuyama said, “is that we understand we can’t do things like provide policy advice very well to a country that’s so far away from us. But what we can do is try to help train a new generation of leaders who will inherit power, and in the near future, hopefully lead the country to a better outcome as we keep in touch with and support them.”

Toward this, the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program provides a 10-month academic training fellowship in support of three mid-career practitioners working actively as policy-makers, legal professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders of civil society organizations in Ukraine.
 

We made a big bet way back in 2005 on Ukraine’s cause, and we view it as a frontline country in the global struggle for democracy.
Michael McFaul
FSI Director


Alums of this and other programs include Artem Romaniukov, a civil society activist now in Ukraine who trained in the Emerging Leaders Program during 2019-20; the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, a visiting scholar in 2021; and Nataliya Gumenyuk, a Draper Hills alum from 2018 and Ukrainian journalist who’s now writing about the war, including social media posts in real-time – “I’m reporting on the ground in Kyiv on what I see with my own eyes,” she wrote.

Oleksandra “Sasha” Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and alum of the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program (2018-19), is lobbying members of Congress. “We are still negotiating for help. And I tell them that every day of negotiations is thousands of lives,” Ustinova told the Washington Post. She was in Washington, D.C., when Russia invaded Ukraine, and has been unable to return.

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, a Ukrainian rock musician who also holds a degree in theoretical physics, was a visiting scholar in 2017-18. After his time at Stanford he created a new political party, Holos, in his country. More recently, after the Russians bombed a children’s and maternity ward in Mariupol, he posted a video on Twitter on his observations while assisting on the scene there. In another video, Vakarchuk is seen singing to Ukrainians who are sheltering in the subways. He has traveled to major cities during the conflict — including badly targeted ones such as Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhya — raising morale among troops and civilians.

Michael McFaul introduces the 2017 cohort of UELP fellows.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, a visiting scholar at CDDRL in 2017-18, peforms a rock song for an audience in the Becthel Conference Center at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Oleksiy Honcharuk speaks at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies on the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.
Alumni from the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program at a networking workshop in Kyiv, 2013.
Francis Fukuyama shakes hands with participants at the 2019 LAD Welcome Dinner.

Changes may be afoot for the Emerging Leaders Program. Fukuyama said it may not be viable for next year, because Ukrainian men are currently not allowed to leave the country. “One thing we’ve been thinking of is possibly converting that program into a more research-oriented program on Ukraine,” he said.

Fukuyama said that for the Leadership Academy for Development, rather than bringing people to campus, FSI sends faculty to countries like Ukraine to deliver one-week intensive training sessions to classes of 25. He says the academy has been held in Ukraine a half dozen or so times, including in its capital of Kyiv, with an estimated 150-200 participants.

Making the transition from civil society into actual politics is one of the key messages in the 17-year-old Draper Hills Summer Fellows program, Fukuyama noted. An alumna, Svitlana Zalishchuk (’11), won a seat in Ukraine’s parliament, along with alumni Serhiy Leshchenko (’13) and Mustafa Nayyem (’14). Before joining government, Zalishchuk led a Ukrainian NGO focused on freedom of speech. After serving in parliament, all three of these alums are now working directly to defeat Putin’s invading army: Leshchenko is an aide to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff; Nayyem is the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, and Zalishchuk works for Ukraine’s state-owned gas company, Naftogaz.

In a recent BBC interview, Zalishchuk said, “I think the Ukrainian president made it very clear — he will not surrender, the Ukrainian army is backing him, the Ukrainian people are backing him, and the international community also demonstrated an incredible unity to stand up to Putin.”

Long before the Russian invasion, FSI’s special relationship with Ukraine attracted prominent coverage. In 2016, The New Yorker article, “Reforming Ukraine After the Revolutions,” described how the Draper Hills Summer Fellows program helped Ukrainian journalists Leshchenko and Nayyem rise to political leadership around the time of Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution in 2014.
 

We understand we can’t do things like provide policy advice very well to a country that’s so far away from us. But what we can do is try to help train a new generation of leaders who will inherit power, and in the near future, hopefully lead the country to a better outcome.
Francis Fukuyama
Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at FSI


Fukuyama explained how the program works: “We teach them about the structures of democracy as if they were Stanford undergraduates – this is what different political systems look like, here is how you can effect political change.”

Another on-campus program designed to offer research and teaching opportunities to former senior government officials is the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Visiting Fellow program, which brought the former prime minister of Ukraine, Oleksiy Honcharuk, to FSI in 2021. Honcharuk said then, “Stanford is the best place to rethink Ukraine’s past and plan the future, and that’s why I am especially happy to be here and add my expertise and experience to this important process.”

Alum Perspective from the Frontlines


Artem Romaniukov ('20), is now in Ukraine fighting the Russians with a rifle in hand and his family nearby.

“I was with my wife and six-year-old daughter in Kyiv when Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began. I grabbed my family and brought them to a place I thought they would be safer. Then I immediately volunteered to join the Ukrainian Defense Force. I have already seen active fire, which has resulted in a dreadful number of casualties, both for Ukrainians and Russians,” he wrote in an article for FSI. He is currently in Western Ukraine awaiting a new deployment.

Lieutenant Artem Romaniukov, on active duty at the Ukrainian Defence Forces, March 2022.
Lieutenant Artem Romaniukov on active duty with the Ukrainian Defence Forces, March 2022. | Artem Romaniukov

An entrepreneur with his own start-up company, Mriya, Romaniukov worries about the consequences the war is having on Ukraine's economy. 'For my own company, and with many Ukrainian businesses, we have managed to move our operations to safe places and are ready to export services. But international companies are concerned about the security situation and whether it is viable to place orders with Ukrainian firms. But it is crucial to keep the Ukrainian economy working right now.”

Ukrainian Student Perspectives


In a time of great uncertainty and anxiety, Ukrainian and other students on campus have found solace and solidarity at teach-ins and events hosted by FSI scholars, sharing what they’re doing to help family and friends back home and to raise awareness on campus.

Writing in the Stanford Magazine, Anastasiia Malenko, a junior studying economics and political science, described an online chat she was participating in with friends back home when the first Russian bombs began hitting Ukrainian cities. On the day after the invasion, Malenko organized a protest with a Stanford Ukrainian student group, urging immediate sanctions on Russia as well as military and humanitarian aid to the country. She also helped create a website, standwithukraine.how, and joined in the writing of a Stanford Ukrainian Community Joint Statement on Russia’s War Against Ukraine.

Students from the FSI community gather for a teach-in about the Ukraine conflict at the McFaul residence in Palo Alto, CA.
Stanford students attend an "Ask Me Anything" event with FSI Director Michael McFaul at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Nariman Ustaeiv, a CDDRL Visiting UELP Scholar (2021-22), joins Michael McFaul onstage to talk to Stanford students at a teach-in event on the war in Ukraine at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Anastasiia Malenko, a Stanford student from Ukraine, addresses fellow students at a teach-in event at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Students gather on Stanford's campus at a demostration in support of Ukraine.

She later wrote in an email, “My family and friends are now demonstrating continued resilience in their fight for freedom against the Russian invaders. From coordinating humanitarian aid to managing local volunteer networks, they are writing the history of an independent democratic Ukraine.”

Malenko, who will join the CDDRL honors program as a senior, considers herself fortunate be in touch with friends and family back home. “As the rest of the world, I am hearing their stories of resilience, perseverance, pain, and calls for help … One of the bright moments is telling them about the support I’ve been witnessing on the Stanford campus and beyond — it makes them feel seen.”

She said FSI’s programs fully demonstrate the institute’s commitment to Ukraine. “Through my undergraduate career, these programs have been invaluable as they provided room for Ukrainian perspective in a field of Eastern European studies, usually dominated by the focus on Russian colonial history.”

Stanford’s Unwavering Support


FSI’s support of Ukrainian democracy reflects what Stanford stands for as a university dedicated to research, teaching and engagement – its slogan is “the winds of freedom blow.” When President Marc Tessier-Lavigne addressed the Faculty Senate on Feb. 24 shortly after the Russian invasion, he said, “There are scholars within our community who bring experience and deep insight to this range of issues, and who will help policymakers as they navigate this situation.”

He added, “It is important to remember that an international conflict of this scale will have effects and consequences for many members of our community, in many different ways. This is a difficult moment, and my thoughts are with all who are affected.”

A few days earlier, as Russian forces massed and an attack loomed, Tessier-Lavigne had joined McFaul to meet with Ukrainian students and scholars who had assembled for a dinner gathering at the latter’s home. The Stanford president was also instrumental in lighting up the iconic Hoover Tower on March 11 in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag as a show of solidarity with the country and its people.

Policy, Research and Discovery


Steve Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and William J. Perry Research Fellow at FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), said the Ukrainians have resisted the Russian invasion with courage, tenacity and determination, surprising many, particularly in the Kremlin, which significantly underestimated the resistance that the Russian military would encounter.

“For many Ukrainians, this is an existential fight.  If they lose, they lose their democracy, however imperfect it might be.  And they also lose the vision that many, particularly the young, hold for Ukraine: to become a normal European state, such as the Czech Republic or Slovenia” he said.

Pifer has worked with CDDRL on conferences and panels on Ukraine and has many relationships with fellows from the Emerging Leaders Program. “That is a great project that gives young, rising Ukrainians the chance to study and think at Stanford about how best they can develop a modern Ukrainian state. And they have gone back to do some remarkable things.”

He says CDDRL maintains an active network of Ukrainian alumni of its programs:  “It has been interesting to keep up with some of them, both via Zooms and in person when I have visited Kyiv.”

FSI scholars like Pifer have long studied Ukraine, Russia and post-Soviet bloc nations in the context of emerging democracies. In 2002, McFaul wrote about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the prospects for democracy in Eastern European countries like Ukraine.
 

Stanford is the best place to rethink Ukraine’s past and plan the future.
Oleksiy Honcharuk
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine


In his article “The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World,” McFaul noted that “the balance of power and ideologies at the time of transition had path dependent consequences for subsequent regime emergence,” whether democratic, partially democratic or autocratic.

In another essay, “Indifferent to Democracy” prescient of FSI’s future Ukrainian efforts, he argued for boosting democratic aspirations in those countries by “empowering human rights activists through high-level meetings with U.S. officials” and launching “assistance programs designed to strengthen the independent media, trade unions, political parties, civil society and the rule of law.”

In February of this year, as Russia built up its forces near Ukraine, McFaul wrote about Russian president Putin’s greatest fear: “To Putin, the Orange Revolution undermined a core objective of his grand strategy: to establish a privileged and exclusive sphere of influence across the territory that once comprised the Soviet Union.”

Rose Gottemoeller, the former Deputy Secretary General of NATO and Steven C. Házy Lecturer at CISAC, has written that, “In some ways, the simplest solution for NATO and the United States would be for Ukraine to decide that it didn’t want to join NATO, take it out of the constitution, and reinsert a provision about nonalignment.” However, she notes that the U.S. should make it clear that Ukraine won’t be ready for this for decades, and that a “moratorium is the best way of doing this at this point.”

On Russia’s misinformation efforts, Kathryn Stoner, the Mosbacher Director at CDDRL and an expert on Russian politics, told the Los Angeles Times that Russian outlets like RT harbor Russian propaganda.

“It is definitely the mouthpiece of the Russian government,” said Stoner, author of the 2021 book, "Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order."

Fukuyama makes an optimistic case for what the post-invasion world might look like: “A Russian defeat will make possible a ‘new birth of freedom,’ and get us out of our funk about the declining state of global democracy. The spirit of 1989 will live on, thanks to a bunch of brave Ukrainians.”
 

Scholars Making an Impact

Beyond direct efforts to support Ukraine and engagement with students and alumni, many FSI faculty are conducting research and sharing expertise on issues related to the conflict.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine speaks at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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‘Everything is Possible in Ukraine’: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses Stanford Community During Historic Visit

President Zelenskyy outlined the steps his administration is undertaking to bring increased digitization to Ukraine, curb corruption and create more equitable access to public services for more Ukrainians.
‘Everything is Possible in Ukraine’: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses Stanford Community During Historic Visit
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Some of the original Ukrainian alumni from the Draper Hills Summer Fellowship gather in Kyiv in 2013.
Ukrainian alumni from the Draper Hills Sumnmer Fellowship gathered in Kyiv in September 2013 for several days of workshops and meetings focusing on democracy development and network building.
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Since 2005, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies has cultivated rich academic ties and friendships with Ukrainian scholars and civic leaders as part of our mission to support democracy and development domestically and abroad.

The War in Ukraine and the Prospects for Peace

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For spring quarter 2022, CISAC will be hosting hybrid events. Many events will offer limited-capacity in-person attendance for Stanford faculty, staff, fellows, visiting scholars, and students in accordance with Stanford’s health and safety guidelines, and be open to the public online via Zoom. All CISAC events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone. 

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About the event: A panel of Stanford experts presents an update on the war in Ukraine. What are the costs of war and what are the prospects for peace?

Speakers: 

  • Scott Sagan​ - Co-director of the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation
  • Kathryn Stoner - Mosbacher Director of the Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
  • Roman Badanin - Journalist, Researcher, and Founder of Proekt
  • Yuliia Bezvershenko - Visiting Scholar, Stanford Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program

Bechtel Conference Center
Encina Hall
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305
(Virtual to Public. Only those with an active Stanford ID may attend in person.)

Scott Sagan
Kathryn Stoner
Roman Badanin
Yuliia Bezvershenko
Seminars
Governance

Sean Foster Michael

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CDDRL Honors Student, 2022-23
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Major: Economics
Minor: Political Science; Modern Languages (Spanish & German)
Hometown: Scarsdale, NY
Thesis Advisor: Chonira Aturupane

Tentative Thesis Title: Comparing the Effect of Chinese and American Aid on Corruption in Latin America

Future aspirations post-Stanford: After graduation, my plan is to work in public sector consulting, preferably at the state and local level. After that, I'd like to go to graduate school to best leverage my skills in development economics, likely in or adjacent to the public sector. 

A fun fact about yourself: My first quarter as a CDDRL Honors student will be spent in Santiago, Chile, where I’ll be doing primary source research into Chilean politics and history.

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2022 CDDRL Fisher Family Honors Program Award Winner Presentations

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CDDRL's Fisher Family Honors Program trains students from any academic department at Stanford to prepare them to write a policy-relevant research thesis with global impact on a subject touching on democracy, development, and the rule of law. For our final Spring 2022 seminar, please join us to hear our Honors Program award winners present their research.

Adrian Scheibler, Firestone Medal winner
 

Adrian Scheibler
Major: International Relations
Thesis Advisor: Christophe Crombez

Thesis Title: Challenging the State: Western European Regionalism in the Era of Financial Crisis

Abstract: The Global Financial Crisis and its aftershocks have substantially altered the Western European political landscape. But while the literature has extensively focused on the impacts of the economic hardship on traditional party competition, it has often failed to consider the center-periphery dimension. My thesis addresses both the demand for and supply of regionalist ideologies during the crisis. Using an original dataset containing 8 countries, 35 regions, and 128 regionalist parties, it finds that voters did not increase their support for regionalist parties during the crisis and may have even turned their backs on these political actors. In addition, I consider the reactions of regionalist parties in three Spanish autonomous communities - Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia - to the crisis. I find evidence of regionalist mobilization on the issue and even some indications of radicalization of regionalist demands. Taken together, these findings raise interesting implications for the impacts of the financial crisis and the interaction between economic indicators, party competition, and voting patterns.

 

Michal Skreta, CDDRL Outstanding Thesis winner
 

Michal Skreta
Major: Economics and Political Science
Thesis Advisor: Larry Diamond

Thesis Title: Babies, Money, and Power: Estimating Causal Effects of the “Family 500+” Child Benefit Program in Poland using the Synthetic Control Method

Abstract: The ‘Family 500+” child benefit program introduced in April 2016 by the government of Poland has become the single most expensive component of Polish social policy expenditure, yet past studies have rarely estimated the effects of the program through causal methods. In a novel application within this context, I propose using the synthetic control method as a causal identification strategy to empirically estimate country-level treatment effects of the program on fertility, poverty, and inequality. Treating 500+ as a natural experiment, I compare observational data from actual Poland with a synthetic counterfactual of Poland constructed from a weighted donor pool of other European countries through a data-driven selection procedure. My findings on fertility metrics are consistent with prior studies, being ambiguous and insignificant, indicating that the main short-term objective of the program has not been achieved. Meanwhile, I find that the program causally reduced the rate of people at risk of poverty in Poland by over 16%, including by more than 23% among children. I also find that the child benefit has led to a significant reduction in income inequality, being causally responsible for a decline of 5.9% in the Gini index and of 8.0% in the income quintile share ratio. While significant, the results on poverty and inequality are weaker than initially anticipated. My results are robust under in-space treatment reassignment placebo studies. The findings contribute to a growing literature on the causal effects of child benefit policy interventions applied on an aggregate unit level.

 

Virtual to Public. Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to E008 in Encina Hall may attend in person.

Stephen J. Stedman
Didi Kuo

Virtual to Public. Only those with an active Stanford ID with access to E008 in Encina Hall may attend in person.

Adrian Scheibler

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CDDRL Honors Student, 2021-22
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Major: International Relations / Coterm Public Policy   
Minor: Economics
Hometown: Augst, Switzerland
Thesis Advisor: Christophe Crombez 

Tentative Thesis Title: Separatism in Western Europe: Ideologies and the European Union

Future aspirations post-Stanford: Continue with studies either in law or political science/economics.

A fun fact about yourself: I spent the coronavirus lockdown in Belgium.

Michal Skreta

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CDDRL Honors Student, 2021-22
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Major: Economics and Political Science   
Hometown: Warsaw, Poland
Thesis Advisor: Larry Diamond

Tentative Thesis Title: Babies, Money, and Power: Estimating Causal Effects of the “Family 500+” Child Benefit Program in Poland using the Synthetic Control Method

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I hope to ultimately pursue a career at the intersection of private and public sectors with a strong international focus as well as to continue my interdisciplinary education in graduate school.

A fun fact about yourself: I once got lost on a volcano in Guatemala.

Seminars
Date Label

Turkey's 2023 Elections: The Main Opposition Party at the Crossroads

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Thousands of supporters wave flags and chant slogans while waiting for the arrival of CHP Party presidential candidate Muharrem Ince during a campaign rally on June 21, 2018 in Izmir, Turkey.
Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images

In February 2022, Turkey's six opposition parties signed a historic pact to restore the parliamentary system, the rule of law, and rights and freedoms if they win the 2023 elections. The main opposition Republican People's Party (RPP), was the main driver behind this achievement. This panel will discuss the changes in the RPP and the coalition's prospects. How did the RPP achieve this coalition, including Islamist and rightist parties? How does the alliance-building affect the inner dynamics and the organizational base of Turkey's oldest party? What will be the main determinants of electoral success for the party and the alliance?

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Yunus Emre
Dr. Yunus Emre is a Turkish parliamentarian and the Republican People's Party (CHP) Assembly member. He is also a member of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council (PACE). Before becoming an MP, he worked as an associate professor of political science at Istanbul Kultur University. His publications on the CHP history and social democracy include The Emergence of Social Democracy in Turkey: The Left and the Transformation of the Republican People's Party (Londra: IB Tauris, 2014) and Herkes için Demokrasi: Tek Adam Rejiminden Güçlendirilmiş Parlamenter Demokrasiye ("Democracy for All: From the One-Man Regime to Strengthened Parliamentary Democracy," Istanbul: Tekin, 2021). He has a Ph.D. from Boğaziçi University and held several other elected positions in the CHP organization, such as the Chairman of the Bakırköy District Youth Branch and the President of CHP's nationwide Youth Branches.  

Seren Selvin Korkmaz

Seren Selvin Korkmaz is the co-founder and executive director of IstanPol Institute and a doctoral researcher at Stockholm University, where she also teaches Middle East politics. Her research focuses on populism, political parties, voter perception, election strategies, and the political economy of exclusion. In addition, Korkmaz is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C. and was recently selected to be a part of the "Young Leadership Program" of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Turkey. Through her engagements in a broad spectrum of academic and non-governmental initiatives, Korkmaz strives to bridge civil society, academia, and public policy through her research outputs and policy recommendations. 

Ayça Alemdaroğlu
Aytuğ Şaşmaz

Online via Zoom

Yunus Emre Dr. Member of Parliament Republican People's Party
Seren Selvin Korkmaz Ms. co-founder and Executive Director Istanbul Political Research Institute (IstanPol)
Panel Discussions
Date Label

Jose Sabau

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CDDRL Honors Student, 2021-22
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Major: Political Science   
Minor: Economics
Hometown: Cozumel, Mexico
Thesis Advisor: James Fearon

Tentative Thesis Title: Making Friends with the Enemy: A Study of Cooperation Between Drug Cartels and Local Politicians in Mexico

Future aspirations post-Stanford: After Stanford, I hope to pursue a PhD in political science focusing on Latin American politics and Economic development. My dream is to return to my home country of Mexico and help create a better future for all my fellow citizens. I am unsure whether this would be through academia, journalism, or public office, but I am excited to see what the future holds. Above all, I hope to follow the footsteps of academics and reporters who have devoted their lives to improving conditions in Latin America.

A fun fact about yourself: I am obsessed with the Nobel Prize in Literature. I can name half of the people who have won the award at the top of my head and in my free time, I always read as many laureates as I can (currently at 40 out of 117).

Deinstitutionalization of Central Banking in Turkey

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Deinstitutionalization of Central Banking in Turkey

The central banks are at the center of any financial system.

This talk discusses the changing features of public policy and administration in Turkey, comparing central banking under the presidential and parliamentary systems. It argues that the deinstitutionalization of conventional central banking norms and practices is the mirror image of new presidential public policymaking and administration. Not only did this process erode the policy capacity of the Central Bank but also that of the Turkish state. Therefore, one should not be surprised by current policy design and implementation failures, poor policy outcomes, and increased socioeconomic costs as these tendencies are not reversed.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Caner Bakir
Caner Bakır is a Visiting Fellow at Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a professor of Political Science at Koc University, and the Director of the Research Centre for Globalisation, Peace and Democratic Governance (GLODEM). His research in political economy and public policy focuses on comparative institutional analysis and policy change and has appeared in leading journals such as Policy Sciences, Governance, Public Administration, and Policy and Society. He is the Associate Editor of Policy Sciences and the Journal Comparative Policy Analysis, editorial board member of the Journal of Economic Policy Research, and the International Journal of Emerging Markets. In addition, he has authored and co-edited nine books. He is the recipient of The Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey (TUBITAK) 2010 Incentive Award and 2008 Early Career Researcher Award.

This talk is co-sponsored by the Center for Research on Globalization, Peace, and Democratic Governance at Koc University.

Ayça Alemdaroğlu

Online via Zoom

Caner Bakır Professor Visiting Fellow at Hoover Institution Koç University
Seminars
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ARD Launches Mofeed Digest

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The Program on Arab Reform and Democracy (ARD) at CDDRL is pleased to announce the launch of Mofeed Digest, a periodic recap of the most important scholarly and policy publications, reports, and articles investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the politics, economies, and societies of the Arab world. 

Mofeed Digest is a feature of the Mofeed Project, an initiative that builds foundational resources for understanding how the politics and societies of the Arab world have adapted in light of the pandemic. The Mofeed Project is supported in part by the Open Society Foundation.

Follow Mofeed-19 on Social Media

Mofeed Digest (October – December 2021)

The following digest summarizes the most important scholarly and policy publications, reports, and articles covering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the politics, economies, and societies of the Arab world. Mofeed Digest is produced by Mofeed Project Coordinator Serage Amatory.

[MENA | Algeria | Bahrain | Comoros | Djibouti | Egypt| Iraq| Jordan| Kuwait| Lebanon| Libya| Mauritania| Morocco| Oman| Palestine| Qatar| Saudi Arabia| Somalia| Sudan| Syria| Tunisia| UAE| Yemen]

 

MENA

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MENA Economic Update: Overconfident: How Economic and Health Fault Lines Left the Middle East and North Africa Ill-Prepared to Face COVID
World Bank, October 2021
This World Bank report discusses factors that exacerbated the pandemic’s burden on MENA governments, namely that governments were “ill-prepared” and overestimated their capacities to overcome the pandemic. Authors attribute lack of preparedness to insufficient data and limited fiscal capabilities. Sixteen  MENA countries, the report argues, are projected to have a deterioration in economic status after the pandemic. [Arabic] 

COVID-19 Response IOM Regional Office for Middle East and North Africa Situation Report 28
International Organization for Migration, October 2021
A report by the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration reflects on and presents the findings of a fifth round of a cross-regional consultation with MENA Civil Society Organizations. The report examines social protections for migrants during and after the pandemic and entry requirements adopted by several MENA countries.

AraCOVID19-SSD: Arabic COVID-19 Sentiment and Sarcasm Detection Dataset 
arXiv Labs, 5 October 2021
This paper presents AraCOVID19-SSD, a dataset for the detection of sarcasm in Arabic tweets about the pandemic. The paper aims to help distinguish between misleading and sarcastic posts, a distinction that is often overlooked by non-Arabic-friendly data analytical systems and classification models. 

Transcript of the October 2021 Annual Meetings-Middle East and Central Asia Department Press Briefing
International Monetary Fund, 19 October 2021
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the proceedings of an IMF expert panel assessing the post-pandemic recovery in the countries of the region.

The Political Economy of Reform in Post-COVID MENA
Middle East Institute, 19 October 2021
The Middle East Institute discusses political and economic reforms necessary for post-pandemic recovery in the countries of the region. Social disparities and low productivity, the panel concludes, will continue to challenge such reforms.

Women, Work and COVID-19 in MENA: Towards an Action Agenda           
Wilson Center, 22 October 2021
Building on an International Labor Organization report, this Wilson Center article highlights the pandemic’s impact on working women in the MENA region. In Arab countries, women lost their jobs at a rate of 4.1 percent as a result of the pandemic compared to a 1.8 percent drop in men’s employment.

Majority of MENA Employees Expect Remote Work to Increase Post-COVID-19
Weqaya, 26 October 2021
According to this piece from Weqaya, an official UAE online health platform, the majority of respondents to a survey conducted by a job website (Bayt.com) expected an increase in remote work. Respondents did not look forward to pre-pandemic in-person work settings. 

Who's More Vulnerable? A Generational Investigation of COVID-19 Perceptions' Effect on Organisational Citizenship Behaviours in the MENA Region: Job insecurity, Burnout and Job Satisfaction as Mediators
BMC Public Health, 27 October 2021
This paper links perceptions of the pandemic to OCBs (Organizational Citizenship Behavior). Its findings suggest that burnout, job attitudes, and organizational outcomes change differently across generations in pandemic times.

Ministerial Forum Declaration: The future of Social Protection in the Arab Region
UNICEF, November 2021
This report presents highlights from a “high-level” ministerial forum for Arab ministers responsible for social protections in their respective countries. The forum is coordinated by UNICEF, ILO, and UN-ESCWA.

School Reopening Status, Progress and Challenges
UNICEF, November 2021
This UNICEF report tackles “digital poverty” in the MENA region. It highlights UNICEF’s calls for increased investment in remote learning and digital learning. The report also points to the disparate impacts of this problem across different social groups.

COVID-19 Driving Child Marriage for Refugee Girls in Middle East North Africa (MENA)
Global Campus of Human Rights, 4 November 2021
This Global Campus of Human Rights article brings to focus the links between school closures and female underage marriage, especially among refugees.

Correlation Analysis of Spatio-temporal Arabic COVID-19 Tweets
Association for Computing Machinery, 4 November 2021
This article analyzes reactions to the pandemic based on an analysis of Arabic tweets and official health provider data. The findings show a positive association between top subjects, such as lockdown and vaccine, and the increasing number of COVID-19 new cases. Unfavorable attitudes among Arab Twitter users were generally heightened during the pandemic on issues such as lockdown, closure, and law enforcement.

How COVID-19 Crisis Undermined MENA States’ Food Security Progress
Arab News, 20 November 2021
Arab News reports on the impact of COVID-19 on food security in the MENA region.

Covid-19 and Food Security Challenges in the MENA Region
Economic Research Forum, 20 November 2021
The paper argues that food security is associated with the strictness of pandemic measures. In part due to weak governance, corruption, and feeble health systems, food security in the MENA region remains tenuous in the wake of the pandemic. 

The Middle East and COVID-19: Time for Collective Action
Global Health, 22 November 2021
This Global Health article outlines the various effects of the pandemic on the MENA region and assesses the responses of various states to the pandemic. It highlights the need for greater intra-regional cooperation in the MENA region on this issue.  

COVID-19 and MENA: Governance, Geopolitics and Gender
Gendered Perspectives on International Development, 24 November 2021
This article investigates the gendered impact of the pandemic on MENA countries and calls for a “new gender contract” in the region.

One-Year Review of COVID-19 in the Arab World
Qatar Medical Journal, 27 November 2021
This article assesses the prevalence of COVID-19 in Arab countries between February 2020 and February 2021 and compares these findings with other significantly affected countries. Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates recorded the most COVID-19 infections per million.

COVID-19 Learning Losses: Rebuilding Quality Learning for All in the Middle East and North Africa
UNICEF, World Bank, UNESCO, December 2021
This WB-UNICEF-UNESCO joint report discusses the effects of the pandemic on education in the MENA region. 

Reliable Health Data in the MENA Region: The Hard Pill to Swallow
The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, 2 December 2021
TIMEP reports on the shortages of accurate data on COVID-19 from the MENA region.

Bread&Net 2021: Towards A Growing Regional Digital Rights Community
SMEX, 2 December 2021
SMEX discusses digital rights in the region in 2021 and highlights COVID-19- related challenges like the digitization of health documents and a digital vaccine passport. 

Factors Associated with the Unwillingness of Jordanians, Palestinians and Syrians to Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 9 December 2021
Analyzing a survey carried out in Jordan, the West Bank, and Syria, this article reports that two-thirds of respondents were “unwilling or hesitant” to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses and Women Entrepreneurs in MENA
Center for International Private Enterprise, 13 December 2021
The Center for International Private Enterprise explains the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the MENA region, as well as the threat the pandemic poses to women’s job security and women-led SMEs.

Acceptability of the COVID-19 Vaccine Among Patients with Chronic Rheumatic Diseases and Health-Care Professionals: a Cross-Sectional Study in 19 Arab Countries
The Lancet Rheumatology, 13 December 2021
Based on a survey covering 3,176 participants from 19 Arab countries, this article reports that many patients with chronic rheumatic diseases were reluctant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to fear of side effects, disease flare, and lack of information regarding the novel vaccines.

Consensus Meeting Report “Technology Enhanced Assessment” in Covid-19 Time, MENA Regional Experiences and Reflections
Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 14 December 2021
This article explains the challenges associated with educational institutions’ reliance on online testing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Freedoms in MENA in the Times of COVID-19
Arab Barometer, 17 December 2021
According to this Arab Barometer infographic, citizens, with varying degrees across countries, that freedoms of expression, demonstration, and the media are among the most threatened ones.

Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region
World Bank, 20 December 2021
This World Bank report examines the distributional effects of the pandemic and makes projections on how COVID-19 could affect poverty levels in the MENA region. [Arabic]

MENA Economic Outlook 2022: Strengthening Regional Growth Faces Noticeable Global Headwinds
IHS Market, 21 December 2021
This IHS Market report projects an uptick in MENA economies between 2022 and 2023 based on expected increases in energy revenues and vaccination rates. It also touches upon monetary policies and predicted inflation across the region.

Air Pollution Back to Pre-COVID-19 Levels in the MENA Region
GreenPeace, 22 December 2021
This Greenpeace report examines air pollution in the MENA region during the pandemic. It indicates levels of pollutants are once again rising to pre-pandemic levels.

Capital Regulation and Market Competition in the MENA Region: Policy Implications for Banking Sector Stability During COVID-19 Pandemic
Global Business Review, 23 December 2021
This article investigates the impact of capital requirements and market competition on the stability of financial institutions in the MENA region.

Between Conflicts, Politics, and COVID-19: Challenges for Arab Journalists
The Arab Center-DC, 30 December 2021
The Arab Center-Washington DC sheds light on limitations on the freedom of the press in the wake of COVID-19. 

Algeria

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Algeria Begins Producing a Coronavirus Vaccine
AlFanar Media, 22 October 2021
At an anticipated production rate of 8 million doses per month, the state-owned Saidal began producing COVID-19 vaccines with a license from Chinese Sinovac to manufacture jabs locally. [Arabic]

Effects of Temperature and Relative Humidity on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Different Climates: a Study Across Some Regions in Algeria (North Africa)
Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 22 October 2021
This article characterizes the role of meteorological factors on the transmission of the coronavirus based on a study of 14 Algerian cities with varying climate conditions. It shows a weak correlation between meteorological factors and daily infection numbers.

Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Job Recruitment Among Private Companies in Algeria from 2020 to 2021
Statista, 27 October 2021
This article explores the impact of the pandemic on job recruitments in Algeria’s private sector. Twenty-eight percent of surveyed Algerian companies stopped hiring during the first quarter of 2021 because of the outbreak. This is compared to a hiring freeze of twenty-four percent of companies in 2020.  

IMF Executive Board Concludes 2021 Article IV Consultation with Algeria
IMF, 22 November 2021
This IMF official release summarizes the Executive Board’s consultations with the Algeria government. The document covers the impact of COVID-19 on the Algerian economy.

Projected Poverty Headcount Ratio Before and During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Algeria as of 2020
Statista, 1 December 2021
In 2020, poverty in Algeria was projected to increase due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. During the pandemic, 26.5 percent of the Algerian population was projected to be living with less than 5.5 U.S. dollars per day, while 3.3 percent with less than 3.2 U.S. dollars per day. Considering both poverty lines, poverty was projected to rise compared to the pre-COVID-19 period.

 

Bahrain

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Reducing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy by Implementing Organizational Intervention in a Primary Care Setting in Bahrain
Cureus Journal, November 5 2021
Based on a  study conducted in Bahrain, this article finds that improving physicians’ and healthcare professionals’ vaccine advice could reduce vaccine hesitancy among patients.

Estimation of COVID-19 Generated Medical Waste in the Kingdom of Bahrain
Science Total Environment Journal, December 2021
The paper evaluates the medical waste generated in the Kingdom of Bahrain in the course of the prevention and cure of COVID-19.

 

Comoros

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IMF Management Approves Program Monitored by Union of the Comoros Staff
NNN News Nigeria, 30 October 2021
The International Monetary Fund approved an SMP (Staff Monitoring Program) for Comoros. The program is expected to help with policy recommendations and reforms as well as mitigate the pandemic’s economic burdens. 

 

Djibouti

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Analysis the Dynamics of SIHR Model: Covid-19 Case in Djibouti
Journal of Applied Mathematics,10 October 2021
Based on data collected from the Djibouti Health Ministry, the articles offers conceptual mathematical models of epidemic dynamics.

Djibouti Rolls Out COVID-19 Vaccinations for Migrants
IOM, 19 October 2021
The International Organization for Migration reports that migrants in Djibouti are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine shots at the Migration Response Center (MRC) in Obock.

Monitoring the Impact of COVID-19 on Households in Djibouti Through High Frequency Phone Surveys
World Bank, 27 October 2021
With technical assistance from the World Bank, a new high-frequency survey was launched to help monitor the socio-economic impacts of the outbreak. 

Djibouti Takes an Inclusive Approach to Schooling for Refugees
World Bank, 20 December 2021
This World Bank article highlights Djibouti’s efforts at providing schooling for refugee children. [Arabic]

 

Egypt

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Poor Households in Egypt: Preliminary Results from the Pilot
G²LM│LIC, March 2021
This policy brief by “The Gender, Growth and Labor Markets in Low-Income Countries Program” presents the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on within families. It indicates that the effects tend to be more challenging for women, especially those with children.

COVID 19 MENA Monitor Enterprise Survey, CMMENT – Wave 1
Economic Research Forum, 14 October 2021
The Economic Research Forum led a COVID-19 MENA Monitor survey to provide policymakers and researchers with information on the pandemic’s impact on the Egyptian economy and the labor market. 

Depression Among Health Workers Caring for Patients with COVID-19 in Egypt
The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, 18 October 2021
This research paper shows that Major Depressive Disorder is common among healthcare workers in Egypt during the COVID-19 outbreak. It recommends early screening and treatment, especially for young females.

Egypt’s COVID-19 Vaccination Lags behind Most Mena Countries
The National, 1 November 2021
Egypt's vaccination rate (eight percent) lags behind most countries in the region, the National reports. 

Egypt Announces Clinical Trials of its Own COVID-19 Vaccine
USNews, 14 November 2021
The national research body of Egypt announced the beginning of clinical trials for a domestically manufactured COVID-19 vaccine. 

Covid-19 Humour in Egypt: An Analysis of Al-Daheeh Episodes
English Academy Review, 29 November 2021
Based on an analysis of episodes from the Egyptian satirical YouTube Show, “Al Daheeh,” this article highlights the different ways humor can impact people in times of crisis. 

COVID-19 Outcomes Among Pregnant and NonPregnant Women at Reproductive Age in Egypt
Journal of Public Health, December 2021
Based on a study conducted in Egypt, this article finds that pregnant women with COVID-19 are at higher risk of severe symptoms and outcomes including ICU admission, requiring a ventilator, and death.

Cash and Payments in Egypt during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Cash Essentials, 8 December 2021
This article discusses how different indicators of Egypt’s cash and payment wellbeing were impacted by the pandemic. 

 

Iraq

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Capturing the Impact of COVID-19 on Construction Projects in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Iraq
Journal of Management in Engineering, 1 January 2022
Based on a case study of Iraq, this article studies the impact of COVID-19 on the construction markets. It shows that supply chain disruptions, workforce restrictions and legislative changes were relevant factors. 

Potential Adverse Effects of COVID19 Vaccines Among Iraqi Population; a Comparison between the Three Available Vaccines in Iraq; a Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, October 2021
Based on a study conducted in Iraq, this article evaluates and compares the respective side effects of various COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance Among Medical Students: An Online Cross-Sectional Study in Iraq
Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, 9 November 2021
The articles assesses levels of vaccine hesitancy among medical students at the University of Baghdad. 

Jordan

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COVID-19: Rapid Food Security and Agri-Food Sector Country Assessment for Jordan
FAO, Date Unspecified
This FAO report studies the impact of the pandemic on the agricultural and food sectors in Jordan. It shows how government regulations have mitigated the negative effects of the pandemic on agriculture. 

Jordan's Public Policy Response to COVID-19 Pandemic: Insight and Policy Analysis
Public Organization Review, 6 October 2021
This article employs an interpretive policy approach to understand the Jordanian government’s response to the pandemic. 

Reported COVID-19 Vaccines Side Effects Among Jordanian Population: a Cross Sectional Study
Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, 6 October 2021
Based on a survey study conducted in Jordan, this paper describes the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, namely AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinopharm. 

Prevalence of COVID-19 Among Blood Donors
Medical Journal, 15 October 2021
This article evaluates the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies at a blood banking facility in Jordan and describes some characteristics of those that test positive. 

2021 Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on Vulnerable Women in Jordan
United Nations, 27 October 2021
This UN Women report assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UN Women Oasis Centre beneficiaries with respect to economic status, safety and access to health services, and other factors. [Arabic]

Pregnancy Outcomes during the Jordanian COVID-19 National Lockdown
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 10 November 2021
Based on a study conducted in Jordan, this article finds that during the COVID-19 lockdown period, the number of infants born with extremely low birth weight decreased significantly.

Jordan Economic Monitor, Fall 2021: En Route to Recovery
World Bank, December 2021
This World Bank report takes note of Jordan’s economic recovery after the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic but warns of economic and international factors that will continue challenging the country’s recovery efforts. 

Covid-19 and the Social Construction of Reality in Jordan
Comparative Sociology, 10 December 2021
This article studies Jordan’s experience with the pandemic to advance the argument that the social construction of reality sometimes requires coercive intervention.

Royal Jordanian Airlines Asks for A $282 Million COVID Bailout
Simple Flying, 28 December 2021
Royal Jordanian Airlines is seeking government aid after having been hit hard by travel restrictions in the wake of the pandemic. 

Effects of Stay-at-Home (Curfew) as a Result of COVID-19 Pandemic on Obesity, Depression and Physical Activity in People Living in Jordan
Nutritional Medicine and Diet Care, 31 December 2021
This article analyzes the effects of stay-at-home measures in Jordan on obesity, depression, and physical activities. 

 

Kuwait

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Impacts of COVID-19 on Kuwait’s Electric Power Grid
The Electricity Journal, November 2021
This article presents a resource adequacy model developed to assess Kuwait’s ability to supply enough energy to meet load demand during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Impact of Strict Public Health Measures on COVID-19 Transmission in Developing Countries: The Case of Kuwait
Frontiers in Public Health, 22 November 2021
Based on data from Kuwait, this article studies the effectiveness of strict public health control measures in limiting COVID-19 transmission.

Attitude (Acceptance) of the COVID-19 Vaccine among Adult Kuwait Oil Company Workers
Open Journal of Internal Medicine, December 2021
This paper measures the acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine among adults working in oil companies in Kuwait. Of the surveyed participants, 92.5 percent demonstrated a willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Determinants of Hesitancy Towards COVID-19 Vaccines in State of Kuwait: An Exploratory Internet-Based Survey
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 14 December 2021
Applying a snowball sampling method to test attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccinations among adults in Kuwait, this article finds that 74.3 percent of participants were hesitant to receive a vaccine.

 

Lebanon

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Costly and Unsustainable: Where Lebanon’s COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Went Wrong
The Public Source, 11 October 2021
This article from The Public Source evaluates COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Lebanon. Only 19.5 percent of the population was fully vaccinated, the article reports.   

Data with Borders for a Borderless Virus: Insights and Recommendations from the Case of Lebanon
Arab Reform Initiative, 19 October 2021
This Arab Reform Initiative paper underscores the importance of timely access to complete and accurate data as crucial for an evidence-based national public health response. It shows that the fragmentation of publicly available data in Lebanon across many official reporting sources has mired COVID-19 data in the country. 

High Association of COVID-19 Severity with Poor Gut Health Score in Lebanese Patients
PLOS ONE, 21 October 2021
Based on a study conducted in Lebanon, this article explores the links between gut health and the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.

Barriers to Refugee and Migrant COVID-19 Vaccination in Lebanon Persist
Global Campus of Human Rights, 28 October 2021
Favoritism in Lebanon’s COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and limited access to information and resources continue to limit vaccination rates among refugee and migrant groups.

Phased Repatriation of Lebanese Expatriates Stranded Abroad during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
Archives of Public Health, November 2021
Stranded Lebanese citizens abroad appealed to the Lebanese government to embark on citizen repatriation missions. This article evaluates Lebanon’s experience in repatriating citizens in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Retrospective Analysis of 902 Hospitalized COVID‐19 Patients in Lebanon: Clinical Epidemiology and Risk Factors
Journal of Clinical Virology Plus, December 2021
This article studies the clinical epidemiology of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Lebanon. It describes the characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized patients and identifies risk factors for severe disease or death.

Online Education in Lebanon During the Covid-19 Crisis: An Ongoing Coping Phase
Digital Economy, Emerging Technologies and Business Innovation, 10 December 2021
Based on survey data, this article analyzes the needs and the gaps of Online teaching in Lebanon. 

Mapping Covid-19 Governance in Lebanon: Territories of Sectarianism and Solidarity
Middle East Law and Governance, 26 December 2021
This article argues that the governance of the pandemic in Lebanon reveals tensions between powerful political parties, weakened public agencies, as well as multiple solidarity groups with diverging aspirations. The article demonstrates that the Covid-19 response in Lebanon operates through ongoing negotiations over the national territory in which timid yet visible aspirations for a non-sectarian country confront sectarian territorialities through back-and-forth cycles.

 

Libya

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“COVID-19 Has Only Made Gender-Based Violence More Glaring in Libya”
United Nations, Date Unspecified
Part of the “Expert Platform on Gender and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in North Africa”, this UN Women Expert Interview brings attention to gender-based violence in Libya in light of COVID-19.

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine Among the People of Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar District in Libya as of April 2021
Asian Journal of Basic Science and Research, 14 December 2021
This study evaluates the frequency of the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine in Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Libya.

 

Mauritania

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Roadmap for a More Inclusive and Fiscally Sustainable Post-COVID Economy in Mauritania
World Bank, 22 October 2021
This World Bank article offers an overview for the impact of the pandemic on the economy in Mauritania and offers recommendations and projections for a post-COVID economic recovery plan.

 

Morocco 

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Pandemic Exposes Vulnerabilities in Moroccan Economy
Financial Times, 11 October 2021
This Financial Times article provides a holistic overview of the Moroccan economy with a specific focus on the impact of the pandemic on it. It reports IMF projections that the Moroccan economy will grow by 4.5 percent in 2021 but also sheds light on vulnerabilities that the pandemic exposed in the Moroccan economy such as the fragility of the tourism sector and the dependency of a large segment of the population on the informal economy.

Morocco’s Monetary Policy Transmission in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic
IMF, 21 October 2021
This IMF working paper assesses monetary policy in Morocco in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acceptability of COVID-19 Vaccination Among Health Care Workers: a Cross-Sectional Survey in Morocco
Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics, 29 October 2021
This study evaluates the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccination among health care workers prior to the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Morocco. It shows a relatively high rate of the COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among health care workers in Morocco. Willingness to be vaccinated was significantly associated with job category, confidence in the information circulating about COVID-19, and perceived severity of COVID19.

Resverlogix Holds Discussions with Morocco to start Covid-19 Drug Trial
Pharmaceutical Technology, 2 November 2021
Resverlogix is holding talks with the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Morocco to conduct Phase II clinical trials of its drug for Covid-19. The company obtained approval from Health Canada to conduct trials of the drug in the country.

Focus Report: The Post-Pandemic Recovery of the Moroccan Economy
Oxford Business Group, 7 December 2021
This Oxford Business Group report details economic opportunities in key sectors in Morocco. The report attributes the opportunities to the country's digitalization strategy and accelerated digital transformation in response to COVID-19. The report also examines Morocco's approach to adopting environmental, social and governance principles and includes a case study on Morocco Now, the country’s new investment and export brand.

COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Among Health Science Students in Morocco: A Cross-Sectional Study
Vaccines (Basel), 8 December 2021
Based on a January 2021 online questionnaire conducted among students of the Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences in Casablanca, this article reports that students with greater confidence in COVID-19 information, and higher perceived likelihood and perceived severity of infection were more likely to be willing to get the vaccine.

Tuberculosis in the Middle of COVID-19 in Morocco: Efforts, Challenges and Recommendations
Tropical Medicine and Health, 20 December 2021
This article examines efforts in Morocco to get back on track with regard to TB management after the onset of COVID-19.

A Laboratory-Based Study of COVID-19 in Casablanca, Morocco
Journal of Public Health in Africa, 31 December 2021
Based on a study conducted in Morocco, this article examines the contribution of laboratory diagnosis to the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the diagnosis of COVID-19.

 

Oman

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The Role of Children and Adolescents in the Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Virus within Family Clusters: A Large Population Study from Oman
Journal of Infection and Public Health, November 2021
This study investigates the role of children in spreading SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19 within family clusters in Oman.

The Economic and Social Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism and Hospitality Industry: A Case Study from Oman
Wiley Journal of Public Health, 9 November 2021
This article investigates the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality sector of Oman based on data collected from business owners.

Challenges and Opportunities for Public Health Service in Oman from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Learning Lessons for a Better Future
Frontiers in Public Health, 9 December 2021
This article provides a narrative review of Oman's public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic from January 2020 to July 2021, and the challenges it faced for a more rapid and efficient response. 

Impact of COVID-19 Crisis on Knowledge Management Practices in Sultanate of Oman
Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 15 December 2021
This article identifies various changes made to knowledge management (KM) practices implemented by organizations in the Sultanate of Oman following the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.  

 

Palestine

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Israel: Ensure Full Access to COVID-19 Vaccines in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
International Commission of Jurists, 5 October 2021
This ICJ report underscores vaccine inequality in Israel and Palestine demonstrating the vast disparity in access to vaccines between Israel’s and Palestine’s populations. 

The Association of Social Factors and COVID-19–Related Resource Loss with Depression and Anxiety Among Arabs in Israel
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 7 October 2021
This article examines experiences of resource loss, social exclusion, ethnic discrimination, and social support and their association with depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak among Arabs in Israel. Results highlight the importance of developing and implementing context-informed health and social care policies and practices, especially in this time of crisis.

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccines in Palestine: a Cross-Sectional Online Study
BMJ Public Health Emergency Collection, October 7, 2021
This study aims to assess the willingness of Palestinians to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and their knowledge about such vaccines.

Fear of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Mental Health Outcomes in Palestine: The Mediating Role of Social Support
Current Psychology, 20 October 2021
This article tests the correlation between fear due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and mental health outcomes (stress, depression, and anxiety) and the mediating role of social support during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Palestine. 

Lessons of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict for Public Health: The Case of the COVID-19 Vaccination Gap
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, November 2021
This article explores the importance of recognizing the Israeli and Palestinian jurisdictions as a single epidemiological unit and illustrates how doing so is a pragmatic positioning that can serve self-interest.

Conflict and Cooperation in the Age of COVID-19: the Israeli–Palestinian Case
International Affairs, 1 November 2021
This article uses the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, exploring the impact of the crisis on relations between the rival parties and examining the conditions under which an ongoing pandemic might lead to either conflict or cooperation in a conflict area.

Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee
World Bank, 17 November  2021
The World Bank report notes that the Palestinian economy started to recover, especially due to the progress witnessed in the West Bank. Gaza on the other hand is still dealing with the economic crisis with rising unemployment rates and deteriorating social conditions. [Arabic]

Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety and Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Cross Sectional Study among Palestinian Students(10-18 years)
BMC Psychology, 30 November 2021
The article identifies psychological distress among school students during the lockdown period based on a study carried out in the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

 

Qatar

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Report: Covid-19's Long-Term Implications for Qatar’s External Trade and Maritime Logistics
Oxford Business Group, 1 October 2021
This Oxford Business Group report looks at COVID-19’s impact on Qatar’s economy and especially on its external trade sector. It shows that Qatar was able to tap international debt markets to fund an effective economic response to the pandemic, while its relatively small population was well served by a modern health care system guided by clear government policy geared towards prevention as well as treatment. The report attributes this success to the state’s oil wealth.

BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Qatar
Nature Medicine, 2 November 2021
This article assesses the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines against Delta variant infections in Qatar's population.

Attitudes and Intentions toward COVID-19 Vaccination among Health Professions Students and Faculty in Qatar
Vaccines, 3 November 2021
This article examines the impact of psychological and sociodemographic factors on attitudes toward and intentions to take the COVID-19 vaccine among students and faculty at four colleges of health professions and sciences at Qatar University.

Predictors of Psychological Distress in Health Care Staff in Qatar during COVID-19 Pandemic
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, December 2021
This study assesses mental health symptoms experienced by expatriate hospital staff and determines the impact of staff wellbeing interventions specific to pandemic-related stress in Qatar during the coronavirus outbreak.

Impact of Staying at Home Measures during COVID-19 Pandemic on the Lifestyle of Qatar’s Population: Perceived Changes in Diet, Physical Activity, and Body Weight
Preventive Medicine Reports, December 2021
This study assesses the impact of staying at home measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic on dietary behaviors, physical activity, and body weight in Qatar’s population. Half of the participants perceived some weight gain during staying-at-home measures and one-third perceived that their overall diet became less healthy with home confinement.

Waning of BNT162b2 Vaccine Protection against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Qatar
The New England Journal of Medicine, 9 December 2021
Based on a study conducted in Qatar, this study investigated vaccine-induced protection against severe SARS-COV-2 infection and hospitalization.

 

Saudi Arabia

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The Psychological and Emotional Impact of Coronavirus Disease on COVID-19 Patients in Najran Province, Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study
Journal of Public Health Research, 8 October 2021
This article explores the psychological impact experienced by patients who tested positive from coronavirus in the Najran region in Saudi Arabia. The study revealed that the majority of participants had high levels of depression, anxiety and bothersome behaviors.

Lifestyle Behaviors Trend and Their Relationship with Fear Level of COVID-19: Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia
PLOS ONE, 13 October 2021
This article assesses the association between various lifestyle behaviors and their association with fear of COVID-19 in people living in Saudi Arabia.

Inequalities in Knowledge About COVID-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Frontiers in Public Health, 15 October 2021
This study assesses the socioeconomic inequalities in knowledge regarding COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.

Knowledge and Attitude of Saudi Arabian Citizens towards Telemedicine during the COVID-19 Pandemic
International Health, 6 December 2021
This article investigates the knowledge and attitudes of Saudi Arabian citizens towards telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Impact of COVID-19 on Saudi Arabia's Economy: Evidence from Macro-Micro Modelling
PSU Research Review, 7 December 2021
This article evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on Saudi Arabia’s economy, with a special focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and production. 

The Contribution of Saudi Arabian Scholars to the Literature on COVID-19: A Bibliometric Study
Science and Technology Libraries, 13 December 2021
This paper reports the findings of Saudi researchers’ academic performance on the topic of COVID-19.

Saudi Arabia Experience in Implementing Telemental Health during COVID-19 Pandemic
Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research, 21 December 2021
This article assesses Saudi Arabis’ experience with telemental health since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Somalia

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Excess Mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Geospatial and Statistical Analysis in Mogadishu, Somalia
International Journal of Infectious Diseases, October 2021
This article shows that COVID-19 deaths in Somalia were at least thirty-two times higher than the figures reported by the government during the early months of the pandemic.

What Resilient Somali Residents are Telling Us About COVID-19 and Economic Recovery
World Bank, 20 December 2021
The World Bank has collaborated with the Somalia National Bureau of Statistics to conduct two rounds of phone surveys already, with the third round under preparation. In January 2021, the survey team reached 1,756 people by phone throughout Somalia.

 

Sudan

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COVID-19 and Sudan: The Impact on Economic and Social Rights in the Context of a Fragile Democratic Transition and Suspended Constitutionalism
Journal of African Law, 22 October 2021
This article argues that the lockdown imposed in Sudan due to the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the livelihood of vulnerable populations.

Exploring Challenges to COVID-19 Vaccination in the Darfur Region of Sudan
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 10 November 2021
This article assesses the difficulties challenging vaccination efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan, such as lack of vaccine storage and transportation facilities, vaccination hesitancy, inequity in the distribution to health facilities, and shortage of healthcare professionals.

Sudan Coup Prompts Fresh Health and Humanitarian Fears
The Lancet, 13 November 2021
This article explores the impact of the coup in Sudan on health and humanitarian conditions. Medicine, food, and fuel shortages could deepen further in Sudan after a military coup sparked large pro-democracy protests and threatened further economic instability.

Rapid Assessment of the Socio-Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic with a Focus on Khartoum, West Kordofan and East Darfur, Sudan
ILO, 8 December 2021
This ILO report assesses the impact of COVID-19 on income and employment, businesses, access to basic services, social protection, social cohesion.

Sudan: Media Laws Drafted during COVID-19 Don’t Meet Free Speech Standards
Article 19, 17 December 2021
This Article-19 legal analysis examines Sudan’s draft media laws, indicating that they failed to meet international freedom of expression standards. The document  expresses concern that these draft laws have been put forward in times where the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has added new challenges to the media to operate in a pluralistic and safe environment.  

 

Syria

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Effects of COVID-19-Related Life Changes on Mental Health in Syrian Refugees in Turkey
BJPsych Open Journal, 1 October 2021
This article examines the association between COVID-19 and changes in mental health in Syrian refugees in Turkey.

COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Among Syrian Population: a Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study
BMC Public Health, 18 November 2021
This article investigates the determinants of vaccine acceptance among Syrians.

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Older Syrian Refugees: Preliminary Findings from an Ongoing Study
Preventive Medicine Reports, December 2021
This article reports that a third of older Syrian refugees had no intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Syrian Government’s Obstruction of Humanitarian Aid Pushes Health Systems to “Near Collapse” in Northern Syria: PHR Report
Physicians for Human Rights, 15 December 2021
This Physicians for Human Rights report provides evidence of compounded health disparities and inequities across northern Syria in the wake of a decade-long assault on health care by the government. [Arabic]

 

Tunisia

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Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the Sewerage System in Tunisia: a Promising Tool to Confront COVID-19 Pandemic
Future Virology, 14 October 2021
This study undertaken in Tunisia examines the use of wastewater to monitor SARS-CoV-2 circulation. The increased amounts of viral RNA detected in wastewater were accompanied by an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in Tunisia. Results emphasize the importance of sewage surveys in SARS-CoV-2 tracking.

Rapid Labour Force Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 in Tunisia: Third Wave
ILO, 18 October 2021
This ILO report summarizes the key findings of the third wave of rapid labor force surveys conducted by ILO and Economic Research Forum in Tunisia to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on households, household enterprises, and farmers.

Assessment of COVID-19 Vaccine Literacy Among Cancer Patients: A Cross Sectional Tunisian Study
European Journal of Public Health, 20 October 2021
This study assesses COVID-19 vaccine literacy among cancer patients in Tunisia. Vaccine literacy among cancer patients included in this study is weak.

From Democratic Exception to State of Exception: Covid-19 in the Context of Tunisia’s State of Law
Middle East Law and Governance, 26 October 2021
Through an analysis of the early legal and institutional response to Covid-19 in Tunisia, this article demonstrates that the narrative of Tunisia’s democratic exceptionalism following the 2011 revolution is not translated into a liberal legal practice but is instead upheld by an authoritarian rationale that serves the role of a formal channel that legitimizes power discourse.

COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance and Its Associated Factors among Cancer Patients in Tunisia
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 1 November 2021
This article assesses the acceptance rate of COVID-19 vaccination among Tunisian cancer patients and investigates its associated factors.

Impact of Covid-19 on the Rights of Minorities and ‘Minoritized’ Populations: Consultation with Civil Society
Minority Rights Group International, 1 December 2021
This study focuses on the impact of the pandemic on minorities and ‘minoritized’ populations in Tunisia, namely the Amazigh population, disabled persons, the LGBTQI+ community, black Tunisian citizens, Sub-Saharan migrants and religious minorities.

Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Professionals in Tunisia: Risk and Protective Factors
Frontiers in Psychology, 14 December 2021
This study evaluates the magnitude of different psychological outcomes among Tunisian healthcare professionals (HCPs) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tunisia: Authorities Must Halt Implementation of Overly Restrictive Vaccine Pass
Amnesty International, 21 December 2021
Amnesty International released a statement calling the new Tunisian decree-law that introduces the new vaccination passport “overly restrictive”. The statement discusses several ways the decree-law will worsen inequalities and promote injustices.

Effectiveness of an Online Positive Psychology Intervention among Tunisian Healthcare Students on Mental Health and Study Engagement during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 22 December 2021
This article assesses the effectiveness of an eight-week internet-based positive psychology intervention for healthcare students in Tunisia.

 

UAE

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COVID-19 Crisis Management: Lessons From the United Arab Emirates Leaders
Frontiers in Public Health, 29 October 2021
This study analyzes the UAE response to the COVID-19 crisis through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Strategic Crisis Management Framework.

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Healthcare Workers in the United Arab Emirates
IJID Regions, December 2021
This article investigates coronavirus vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers in the UAE. UAE healthcare workers had a high acceptance rate (89.2%) for COVID-19 vaccines. Older individuals, males, physicians, and South Asians demonstrated higher rates of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. The main reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were safety and efficacy concerns.

 

Yemen

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Yemen’s Triple Emergency: Food Crisis Amid a Civil War and COVID-19 Pandemic
Health in Practice, November 2021
This article sheds light on the food crisis in Yemen amid the civil war and COVD-19 pandemic. It argues that while the most crucial step is to urge the leading Yemeni authorities to restart negotiations to end the war, the more urgent action is to demand the local authorities to join forces in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic by limiting their interferences toward the much-needed humanitarian assistance.

UN Women and ESCWA launch 3 studies on the impact of COVID-19 on women in Yemen
UN ESCWA, 2 December 2021
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and UN Women in Iraq and Yemen launched three studies assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the social, political and economic situation of women in Yemen. The studies are aimed at supporting the Government of Yemen and various stakeholders in addressing the challenges that women face and increasing the effectiveness of efforts towards gender equality in all sectors, in the era of COVID-19 and beyond.

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The Program on Arab Reform and Democracy (ARD) at CDDRL is pleased to announce the launch of Mofeed Digest, a periodic recap of the most important scholarly and policy publications, reports, and articles investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the politics, economies, and societies of the Arab world.

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