Long description:

Social policy in the Middle East and North African (MENA) has evolved significantly over the last decade. Focusing on three key dimensions - allocation, membership, and entitlement - and the way these play out in social programmes led by governments, UN agencies and NGOs, this book presents a wide breadth of case studies across this complex and diverse region. It questions whether recent social policy initiatives signal a move towards universal social policy convergence or, instead, represent a continuation of previous policy trends, perpetuating poverty and inequality.

Leading scholars with extensive first-hand experience of the region offer major conceptual contributions to the comparative social policy literature. They explore recent changes in the wake of the Arab Spring and Syrian and Palestinian refugee crises, and the expansion of social protection, and question the extent to which these developments signal significant and lasting change. The book concludes by providing policy recommendations informed by a broader evaluation of major trends in social policy in the MENA region.

This is a valuable resource for students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels studying international social policy, international development, humanitarian and conflict studies, and international politics. It will also be useful to policy makers in government, donor agencies and NGOs working on social protection in the MENA region.

Contributors include: B. Abu-Hamad, H. Ait Mansour, J. Aljabiri, J.A. Barry, S.I. Bergh, I. Gercama, R. Jawad, N. Jones, M. Loewe, M. Messkoub, P. Pereznieto, E. Presler-Marshall, F. Samuels, I. Selwaness, M. Shaheen

This book presents a state of the art in the developing field of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an up-to-date conceptual analysis of social policy programmes and discourses in the MENA region by critically reviewing the range of social insurance and social assistance schemes that are currently in existence there. It also analyses and offers suggestions on which of these policies can positively impact the region?s advancement in terms of human development and in addressing social and economic inequalities and exclusion.

Table of Contents:

Contents:

1. Introduction
Rana Jawad, Nicola Jones and Mahmood Messkoub

2. Theoretical and Policy Contexts of Social Policy in MENA
Rana Jawad, Nicola Jones and Mahmood Messkoub

3. Social protection schemes in the Middle East and North Africa: not fair, not efficient, not effective?
Markus Loewe

4. Social Policy and Social Change in MENA: A North African Perspective
Hicham Ait Mansour and Rana Jawad

5. The Coverage Gap in the Egyptian Social Protection System: Challenges and Opportunities
Irene Selwaness and Mahmood Messkoub

6. Cash Transfers in Iran
Mahmood Messkoub

7. A pathway to social justice? Social protection and disability in the State of Palestine
Bassam Abu-Hamad, Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall, Paola Pereznieto and Mohammed Shaheen

8. Child Refugees from Syria: Challenges for Social Protection
Jose Azoh Barry and Rana Jawad

9. Interrogating the potential of a cash plus approach to tackle multi-dimensional vulnerability in humanitarian contexts: the case of Syrian refugees in Jordan
Bassam Abu Hamad, Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall, Fiona Samuels and Ingrid Gercama

10. Social Protection, Political Mobilisation and Islamic NGOs in Iraq post-2003
Janan Aljabiri and Rana Jawad

11. Social accountability, citizenship, and social protection in the MENA region: Exploring the linkages
Sylvia I. Bergh

12. Conclusion: Synthesis and policy recommendations
Rana Jawad, Nicola Jones and Mahmood Messkoub

Index