Governance and Local Development in the MENA: Edited Volume
Short description
This project explores comparative decentralization, state-building and power, gender, service provision, and social cohesion at the local level around the MENA region. An Edited Volume based on this project will be published in January 2025.
About the Project
This project aims to enhance understanding of local governance in the MENA region, focusing on the experiences of individuals. Scholars from Europe, the MENA region, and the US utilize diverse methodologies to examine subnational governance, culminating in an edited volume exploring decentralization, state-building, gender, service provision, and social cohesion. The book, called Decentralization, Local Governance, and Inequality in the Middle East and North Africa, was published by the University of Michigan Press in January 2025.
About the Edited Volume
While decentralization is often seen as a means to enhance participation and representation, little is known about its local impact in the MENA region. This volume examines how citizens experience decentralization, highlighting the roles of individual factors (e.g., gender, education) and local contexts (e.g., development levels).
Featuring original research from Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia, the chapters are organized into three thematic sections:
- The design and implementation of decentralization
- Participation in the context of decentralization
- Representation in decentralization
These insights deepen the discourse on governance and local development, emphasizing the need to understand how decentralization policies affect citizens’ daily lives.
The volume is co-edited by Ellen Lust and Kristen Kao (University of Gothenburg) and is set to be published by the University of Michigan Press in January 2025. Both the book and its translated chapters will be accessible as open-access resources.
Publications:
Brooke, Steven and Monica C. Komer. (2021). How Gender and Local State Capacity Shape Citizens’ Use of the Mosque. Governance and Local Development Institute Working Paper Series, No. 37, University of Gothenburg. Available here.
Kherigi, Intissar. (2021). "Municipal Boundaries and the Politics of Space in Tunisia," Governance and Local Development Institute Working Paper Series, No. 38, University of Gothenburg. Available here.
Barnett, Carolyn; Shalaby, Marwa. (2021). "Success Beyond Gender Quotas: Gender, Local Politics, and Clientelism in Morocco" Governance and Local Development Institute Working Paper Series, No. 48, University of Gothenburg. Available here.
Collaborators
Alexandra Blackman (Cornell University), Aytug Sasmaz (Bryn Mawr College) and Julia Clark (World Bank).
Sylvia Bergh with Francesco Colin (International Institute of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam).
Steven Brooke with Monica Komer (University of Wisconsin-Madison).
Matt Buehler (University of Tennessee) and Freddy Ghergis (Independent Scholar).
Intissar Kherigi (Ibn Haldun University & Sciences Po, Paris).
Christina Parreira (Geneva Graduate Institute).
Marwa Shalaby (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Carolyn Barnett (University of Arizona) .
Marika Sosnowski (University of Melbourne).
Workshops and Seminars:
- Middle East and North Africa Workshop, Sarajevo, August 7-9, 2019
- Fall 2020 Weekly Seminar Series for the GLD in the MENA Edited Volume, September to December, 2020
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the Governance and Local Development in the Middle East and North Africa (Hicham Alaoui Foundation), PIs: Ellen Lust and Kristen Kao.