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

Rana Jawad, a British-Lebanese journalist who has reported from Tripoli for the BBC for seven years, found herself the last British journalist reporting from inside Tripoli early in 2010. Defiant and terrified in turns, she went into hiding and bravely issued the series of anonymous Tripoli Witness blogs that have become famous among anyone following the course of the insurgency. The raw blog accounts published here are accompanied by a short introductory pieces as well as a series of opening essays of what it was like to live in Gaddafi's Libya. Paul Kenyon, the acclaimed Panorama Presenter who was recently awarded for his BBC documentary on Libya, introduces Rana's work and gives an insight into this remarkable young journalists's brave reporting through harrowing times.

This original book makes a timely and potentially controversial contribution both to the teaching of social policy and the wider debates surrounding it in Britain today. It offers a critical and theoretically sensitive overview of the role of religious values, actors and institutions in the development of state and non-state social welfare provision in Britain, combining historical discussion of the relationship between religion and social policy in Britain with a comparative theoretical discussion that covers continental Europe and North America. Grounded in new empirical research on religious welfare organisations from the nine major faiths in the UK, the book brings together all of these perspectives to argue for an analytical shift in the definition of wellbeing through a new concept called 'ways of being'. This reflects the moral, ideational and cultural underpinnings of social welfare. Written in a readable style, the book will appeal to students and tutors of social policy, as well as policy-makers seeking to inform themselves about the key issues surrounding faith-based welfare in modern Britain.

This original book makes a timely and potentially controversial contribution both to the teaching of social policy and the wider debates surrounding it in Britain today. It offers a critical and theoretically-sensitive overview of the role of religious values, actors and institutions in the development of state and non-state social welfare provision in Britain, combining historical discussion of the relationship between religion and social policy in Britain with a comparative theoretical discussion that covers continental Europe and North America. Grounded in new empirical research on religious welfare organisations from the nine major faiths in the UK, the book brings together all of these perspectives to argue for an analytical shift in the definition of wellbeing through a new concept called 'ways of being'. This reflects the moral, ideational and cultural underpinnings of social welfare. Written in a readable style, the book will appeal to students and tutors of social policy, as well as policy-makers seeking to inform themselves about the key issues surrounding faith-based welfare in modern Britain.

As religion continues to regain its centrality in both academic and policy circles around the world, this book presents a new framework which examines the complex social and political dynamics shaping social welfare in the Middle East. Based on an in-depth study of the major Muslim and Christian religious welfare organisations in Lebanon (including Hezbollah), and drawing upon supplementary research conducted in Iran, Egypt and Turkey, the book argues that religion is providing sophisticated solutions to the major social and economic problems of the Middle East. It will be of use to students and academics of social policy, sociology, politics and Middle Eastern studies.