The MENA Region and COVID-19. Impact, Implications and Prospects

Published: 2022

ISBN/ISSN: 9781032145815

Abstract

Focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which comprises some of the world’s richest countries next to some of the poorest, this book offers excellent insights into the discriminatory consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a geographic focus on the MENA region, the multidisciplinary case studies collected in this edited volume reveal that the coronavirus’s impact patterns are a question of two variables: governance performance and socioeconomic potency. Given the global, unprecedented, complex, and systemic nature of COVID-19 - and its long-term implications for societies, governments, international organisations, citizens and corporations – this volume entails a relevance to regions undergoing similar dynamics. Analyses in the book, therefore, have implications for the comparative study of the pandemic and its impact on societies around the globe. Understanding related dynamics and implications, and making use of lessons learned, are a pathway to deal with future similar crises.

The book project ‘Arab Countries and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact, Implications, and Prospects’ was initiated by AGYA members Prof. Dr. Zeina Hobaika, Prof. Dr. Lena-Maria Möller, and Dr. Jan Völkel within the framework of the AGYA Working Group Dynamics of Transformation.

Contributions by AGYA members

Introduction: The MENA region and COVID-19 – concept and content of this book
Zeina Hobaika, Lena-Maria Möller and Jan Claudius Völkel

‘American Corona’ vs. ‘The Chinese virus’: blaming and othering in Arab media
Carola Richter et al.

Conclusions: The MENA region and COVID-19 – lessons for the future
Zeina Hobaika, Lena-Maria Möller and Jan Claudius Völkel