Podcasts about middle east north africa

Mohamed is a North African-Egyptian Muslim settler of color on Turtle Island. He is an interdisciplinary activist-scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race, and Islamic studies, as well as gender, sexuality, abolition, and decolonization with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East-North Africa, Asia, and Turtle Island. He is a professor and the author of Islam & Anarchism: Relationships & Resonances.  In this first part of our conversation, we discuss the meaning of identity, home, and belonging and how this informs our building of community. Mohamed talks to us about his analysis of Palestine through the framework of 1492, illustrating as ever that all struggles for liberation are connected - a free Palestine cannot be separate from Indigenous land rematriation and Black reparations. He also tells us about the student encampment at Columbia, where he was the Arcapita Visiting Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies. Mohamed asks us to go beyond rhetoric in our pursuit of freedom, to seek to understand what it means to be human, and to honor that land is a spiritual subject. “Palestine 1492” event with Haymarket Books feral feminisms article Mohamed's IG Leah's IG The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

In an era of celebrity and platform, it's easy to forget that God uses the “least and the lost” to advance His Kingdom. The men and women I discuss in today's podcast are not media celebrities. They don't have “platforms” or book deals. But they have been quietly going about the business of the Kingdom of God. At MinistryWatch we often report on Christian leaders behaving badly. Sometimes it's right and proper to pause and recognize those men and women who have quietly been engaged in what Eugene Peterson calls “long obedience in the same direction.” May we all be encouraged by their lives and – more importantly – may be all go and do likewise. To read this story, click here.

How do you prepare for an engagement with an important or difficult interlocutor? In this episode of Advocating for Protection, Thaer Allaw, the operations manager for Asia and the Middle East North Africa region at the ⁠CCHN⁠, and Major Stuart Thomas, a commander of Canada's high readiness civil military cooperation capability, share with Matt Byrne (⁠ProCap⁠) tips on how to prepare for such engagements and what humanitarians can do to have more successful outcomes. You can find CCHN resources for frontline negotiations ⁠here⁠. The Global Protection Cluster ⁠Protection Advocacy Toolkit. ⁠ The transcript of this episode is available in French and Spanish.

It's Wednesday, August 14th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Nicaragua detained a dozen Roman Catholic leaders Authorities in Nicaragua continue to crack down on religious leaders in the country. Police detained a dozen leaders of the Roman Catholic Church recently. Police arrested one of the priests while he was preparing to ordain several deacons and told him he did not have permission to do so. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been cracking down on dissent. One bishop faced over 20 years in prison for criticizing the regime.  Nicaragua is ranked 30th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian.   Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Middle East-N. Africa most religious New data from Pew Research revealed how important religion is to people around the world and how often they pray. The most religious places were in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East-North Africa region. The least religious places tended to be in Europe and East Asia.  People in sub-Saharan Africa were among the mostly likely to say religion is important to them with most being Christian or Muslim. Latin Americans were the most likely to pray daily. The United States was slightly below average on daily prayer. And people in European nations were the least likely to say religion is important to them. Psalm 9:17 warns, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Trump tells Musk: After assassination attempt, “I'm more of a believer” Tech billionaire Elon Musk  interviewed former President Donald Trump for nearly two hours Monday night on X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk said the conversation has garnered one billion views. He endorsed Trump after the failed assassination attempt on the former president.  The two discussed immigration, inflation, the assassination attempt, and Trump's political agendas. If re-elected, Trump said one of his first acts would be to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states. Trump also said it was a miracle he was still alive after the assassination attempt. Listen. TRUMP: “The bigger miracle was that I was looking in the exact direction of the shooter. And so it hit -- it hit me at an angle that was far less destructive than any other angle. So, that was the miracle. That was …” MUSK: “Yeah!” TRUMP: “For those people who don't believe in God, I think we got to all start thinking about that. I'm a believer. Now, I'm more of a believer.” Campus Faith Alliance affirms student religious free speech Last week, the Religious Freedom Institute announced the launch of a new student initiative, the Campus Faith Alliance. The new initiative seeks to promote religious freedom and freedom of speech on college campuses.  David Trimble, the president of the Religious Freedom Institute, told The Christian Post, “People of faith are increasingly pushed to the margins of American society, and this marginalization is occurring with even greater intensity on public university campuses. “Religious freedom says, ‘I can disagree with you even on life's most important questions while still respecting your dignity.' This message needs to be relearned on many campuses today, and the Campus Faith Alliance can be a vehicle for such renewal.” Kansas, Idaho, and Missouri fighting Abortion Kill Pill Back in June, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit that challenged the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion kill pill. However, several states are still fighting to restrict the drug. Kansas, Idaho, and Missouri are renewing the challenge in the coming weeks.  Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said, “We are confident, as the case begins moving again, we will prevail. It is likely that this case may end up back at the Supreme Court. It is a question of major national importance.”  Small rise in inflation; Small rise in stocks Wholesale inflation rose less than expected last month. The producer price index measures the prices that producers pay for goods and services before they reach customers. That index rose by only  0.1% compared to June. Wholesale prices reflect a broader slowdown in price increases.  U.S. stocks rose in response to the news. The S&P 500 was up 1.5% yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9%. And the Nasdaq Composite was up 2.2%.  Olympic gold medalist sings Gospel song at press conference And finally, another Paris Olympian praised God after winning a medal. Last Friday, Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye won gold in the women's shot put  with a throw that spanned 65 feet and 6 inches. She slipped and fell on her first attempt due to rainy conditions. However, she said she overcame the setback with God's help, encouraging herself by singing a Gospel song. Listen to her sing it again for reporters. REPORTER: “Yemisi, is it true you sing in the Gospel Choir?” OGUNLEYE:  “Yes.” REPORTER: “What song was going through your head tonight?” OGUNLEYE:  (laughs) “So, after falling, I went back to my seat, and I sang a song. It means ‘I almost let go.' It goes like this. (laughs) “I almost let go. I was quite at the edge of a breakthrough, but couldn't see it. The Devil really had me, but Jesus came and grabbed me. He held me close so I wouldn't let go. God's mercy kept me so I wouldn't let go. “So, I'm here today because God kept me. I'm alive today only because of His grace. Oh, He kept me. God kept me. God's mercies kept me so I wouldn't let go. “That was the song that I was just singing at the time. (clapping) “After seeing where the shot landed, and I knew it's hopefully gonna be enough for the gold medal, I just went on my knees and said, ‘Thank you, Jesus.'” 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Wednesday, August 14th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Last week you heard an incredible testimony from the Middle East / North Africa region. This week Charlie and Nathan share 5 more! You won't regret listening to these powerful stories!

Today on our episode #387 of All in the Industry®, Shari Bayer's guest is Tim Brooke-Webb, Managing Director for 50 Best, the leading authority in global gastronomy and the international drinks scene, showcasing worldwide trends and highlighting great restaurants and bars from all corners of the Earth. With overall responsibility for 50 Best since 2009, Tim has overseen more than a decade of key brand developments, including the launches of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants in 2013; the start of The World's 50 Best Restaurants global tour in 2016; the acquisition of The World's 50 Best Bars in 2017; the launch of Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2018; and the more recent additions of 50 Best Discovery, Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants, North America's 50 Best Bars and The World's 50 Best Hotels to the 50 Best portfolio. He joined William Reed in 2007 as publisher of The Morning Advertiser and was promoted to publishing director in 2009, also overseeing Restaurant magazine, BigHospitality and MCA Insight, highly influential UK hospitality trade publications. Shari is excited to speak with Tim about his career and all things 50 Best, including The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2024, taking place on June 5th in Las Vegas, which Shari will be attending and covering on an upcoming "On the Road" episode. In addition, today's show features Shari's PR tip to build community; Industry News on The 50 Best Bars in North America 2024, via Conde Nast Traveler; and Shari's Solo Dining experience at Casa Playa at the Wynn Las Vegas, which is hosting one of the 50 Best's Signature Sessions dining events with Chefwise contributor Elena Reygadas of Rosetta in Mexico City. ** Check out Shari's book, Chefwise: Life Lessons from Leading Chefs Around the World (Phaidon). #chefwisebook ** Listen at Heritage Radio Network; subscribe/rate/review our show at iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify. Follow us @allindustry. Thanks for being a part of All in the Industry®. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support All in the Industry by becoming a member!All in the Industry is Powered by Simplecast.

Can classic value investing and AI coexist? Today, Jim Falbe is coming on the show to share his playbook for blending timeless strategies with AI WITHOUT losing the personal touch allocators love.  In this episode, Jim and Stacy cover:   His backstory:   o How losing his mom at 13 sparked his passion for financial management   o Why he left an investment giant to follow his dream of building his own firm Why AI isn't just a trend: What he's learned from 10 years in the data science gameThe secret sauce to building a company culture that's built to last through challenging seasons Grab your popcorn and your Kleenex because Jim isn't holding back in this episode. He's sharing the raw emotion involved in foundership, and As you listen, you'll feel like you're talking to a friend that's not afraid to dive into the real talk about life. From navigating grief to leading the charge in modernizing value investing – this episode will solidify one thing for you – you're not alone in the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and life. About Jim Falbe: Jim is passionate about mentorship and investing. As the Founder of Saguaro Capital Management, he lives these passions daily.Jim was previously a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Vulcan Value Partners. With the Senior Investment Team, he was responsible for portfolio management, coverage of both portfolio and watch list names, and seeking out new investment opportunities. Before Equity Research, Jim was a humanitarian worker in the Middle East/North Africa region. Starting as an English teacher in Jordan, he taught over 800 students and finished by helping run a training center that educated over 1,500 students per year. His team of fourteen was on the ground during the Arab Spring and helped build a network for international aid efforts in Egypt and Libya.Jim is a CFA® Charterholder and earned his MBA in Investments from the University of Notre Dame. He also holds an MDiv in Theology and a BA as a University Scholar from Baylor University.Married with four energetic kids, Jim loves science fiction, history, long walks, chess, and Baylor Football.

Recently, the team has the pleasure of speaking with Frank Wouters, a true visionary in hydrogen as well as the untapped potential of deserts. Chris Jackson, Alicia Eastman, and Patrick Molloy delve into some timely topics including offsets and the Zero Emissions Trading Alliance (ZETA) as well as the newly funded EU MED-GEM Network.About Frank Wouters:Frank has been leading renewable energy projects, transactions, and technology development for more than thirty years and played a lead role in the development of renewable energy projects all over the world.Frank was the Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) from 2012 to 2014 and has sat on the boards of energy companies in Europe, Asia, the US, and Africa. He currently serves as:• Chairman of the MENA Hydrogen Alliance, Dubai• Chairman of the Dii Advisory Board, Dubai• Director of the EU MED-GEM Network, Brussels• Fellow, Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines, Denver• Chairman of the Benelux Business Council Abu Dhabi• Chairman of the HyET Group Advisory Board, The Netherlands• Non-Executive Board Director of Gore Street Capital, LondonFrank has authored several books on renewable energy and green hydrogen and lives in Abu Dhabi. He has a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Delft University.About MENA Hydrogen Alliance: The organization aims to create the Middle East North Africa hydrogen community with a regional focus and global scope to accelerate the deployment of li-carbon hydrogen. The Alliance provides a platform for partners to meet and discuss pathways forward, to formulates common studies and connect producers and off-takers.About the EU MED-GEM Network:The EU MED-GEM project, supporting the development of Green Electrons and Molecules (GEM) in the Southern Mediterranean area, is an initiative funded by the European Union that aims to create and operate a sustainable and self-sustaining network in the Southern Neighbourhood region. By convening dialogue and collaborative activities between key energy stakeholders, MED-GEM activities facilitate and promote the growth of the GEM industry, in particular Renewable & Green Hydrogen, at regional level. The Network also aims at raising awareness on the imperative need for an accelerated clean energy transition. About ZETA:The Zero Emissions Trade Alliance (ZETA) was founded nearly ten years ago by Jan Haizmann. As an impartial and technically neutral platform for actors in the market of clean/low/no emissions energy carriers, it is intended to encourage and facilitate standards, certification, data exchange, and any related technologies and rules. --Links:MENA Hydrogen Alliance - https://dii-desertenergy.org/mena-hydrogen-alliance/EU MED-GEM Network - https://med-gem.eu/home-pageZETA - https://www.zeta2030.org/

Bishop Declan Lang, Chair of our International Affairs department, recently joined former Middle East North Africa advisor to the Bishops' Conference, Dr Harry Hagopian, on a special podcast to discuss the tragic events playing out in the Holy Land as the conflict continues to rage in Gaza. Five long, painful months after the Hamas terror attack of 7 October and the subsequent bombing and ground offensive that has reduced Gaza to rubble and led to several thousand deaths and a humanitarian disaster of the most tragic proportions, this 'Middle East Analysis' special asks the question: Is there a road map to peace in the Holy Land or are we eternally to walk the path of violence, revenge and hatred? Dr Harry Hagopian, an international lawyer, commentator, and MENA region analyst, joins his old friend Bishop Declan for a 30-minute podcast that we have, with permission, uploaded to our 'Catholic News' channel. They look for any signs of light in the darkness, and mourn decades of failure when it comes to securing a lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Subscribe You can subscribe to our Catholic News podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Amazon/Audible or Spotify.

Bishop Declan Lang, Chair of our International Affairs department, recently joined former Middle East North Africa advisor to the Bishops’ Conference, Dr Harry Hagopian, on a special podcast to discuss the tragic events playing out in the Holy Land as the conflict continues to rage in Gaza. Five long, painful months after the Hamas terror […]

Bishop Declan Lang, Chair of our International Affairs department, recently joined former Middle East North Africa advisor to the Bishops’ Conference, Dr Harry Hagopian, on a special podcast to discuss the tragic events playing out in the Holy Land as the conflict continues to rage in Gaza. Five long, painful months after the Hamas terror […]

In this week's North American Ag Spotlight Chrissy Wozniak visits with Gary Hirsch, Founder and President of Global Opportunities. Gary shares his insight into how increasing and strengthening our ties with Africa could be an excellent strategy on many levels.Global Opportunities was founded in order to deepen the economic ties between the people of Africa and the people of the United States and is committed to identifying those opportunities where by working together, jobs and economic growth can be created on both sides while also strengthening the "personal bonds" between Africa's people and the people of the United States. For too long America's adversaries have taken advantage of the United States being economically focused elsewhere and it is time to change this through the building of new partnerships between American and African businesses.Gary Hirsch is the founder and President of Global Opportunities Inc., a United States based company dedicated to increasing trade and economic ties between  U.S. and developing countries, primarily in the Middle East/North Africa region as well as those in Sub Saharan Africa. Mr. Hirsch developed the concept for Global Opportunities based on his concern that in a globally competitive world, increasing  interaction between United States companies and developing economies will not only result in opening up new markets for American products but can also help to provide tremendous opportunities for citizens of the developing world in terms of increasing access to the American market and providing new training opportunities helping to lift local standards of living and address high rates of developing world unemployment. Mr. Hirsch has an extensive background in political and governmental affairs. With over 30 years of experience in the operation and management of Municipal and County political campaigns, Mr. Hirsch is recognized as one of the leading municipal campaign consultants serving the Central New Jersey region. Having participated in and/or managed numerous successful political campaigns, he has been responsible for all facets of campaign operations including but not limited to message development, fundraising,  volunteer recruitment, voter identification and targeting ,  opposition research, budgeting, grass roots support building,  and the development and implementation of all Get Out the Vote efforts leading up to and including Election Day for both  local and County candidates  and  in coordination  at the Municipal Level , with campaigns at other levels of government including State Legislature, Governor, Congress and U.S. President. In addition to this experience, Mr. Hirsch also served in the campaign of President Bill Clinton as Regional Field Coordinator in the early primary Join us this February 14-17 at the National Farm Machinery Show, tell us why you love your tractor color and have a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode of What Color is Your Tractor!Learn More at https://fastline.com! The New York Farm Show is the leading farm show in the Northeast since 1985. The show hosts more than 400 exhibitors displaying the latest in farm equipment, tractors, combines and farm implements; seed and crop protection products; farm supplies and services, dairy and beef production, woodlot and related industry supplies.Learn more at https://newyorkfarmshow.com FASTLINE AUCTIONSAuctions is the only auction platform with over 40 years of data to target more farmers than any other. We also make it super simple for our customers – our auctions are embedded directly into Fastline.com's current website listings, so there's no need for buyers to visit a separate website. Learn more at Fastline.com!Subscribe to North American Ag at https://northamericanag.com

Conditions are more stable for sovereigns, banks and companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council region than in North Africa and Levant. An escalation of the Israel-Hamas military conflict is main risk.Speakers: Christian Fang, Vice President – Senior Analyst, Sovereign Risk Group at Moody's Investors Service; Badis Shubailat, Assistant Vice President – Analyst, Financial Institutions Group at Moody's Investors Service; Rehan Akbar, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance Group at Moody's Investors ServiceHost: Vittoria Zoli, Analyst, Emerging Markets at Moody's Investors Service

Please join Linda Quiquivix, William C. Anderson, & Mohamed Abdou for a round table conversation on "Palestine 1492: Settler-colonialism, Solidarity & Resistance." They will situate Palestine transnationally in relation to 1492, & discuss admirable acts of solidarity by activists and organizers as well as common pitfalls within leftist social movement circles drawing on Zapatista, Black, Palestinian, Arab-North African & Muslim lenses. Speakers: Linda Quiquivix is a geographer and seed saver based in California. She places her university training at the service of under-resourced communities in the U.S., Mexico, and Palestine who seek clean water, land, and tools to build and strengthen their collective autonomies. William C. Anderson is a writer and activist from Birmingham, Alabama. His work has appeared in The Guardian, MTV, Truthout, British Journal of Photography, and Pitchfork, among others. He is the author of The Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author of As Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He's also the co-founder of Offshoot Journal and provides creative direction as a producer of the Black Autonomy Podcast. His writings have been included in the anthologies, Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? (Haymarket 2016) and No Selves to Defend (Mariame Kaba 2014). Dr. Mohamed Abdou is a North African-Egyptian Muslim anarchist interdisciplinary activist-scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race, and Islamic studies, as well as gender, sexuality, abolition, and decolonization with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East-North Africa, Asia, and Turtle Island. This year, he is the Arcapita Visiting Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African studies (MESAAS) at Columbia University. He is a former Assistant Professor of Sociology at the American University of Cairo and recently completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. He has also taught at the University of Toronto & Queen's University. His research stems from his involvement with the anti-globalization post-Seattle 1999 movements, organizing for Palestinian liberation, the Tyendinaga Mohawks and the sister territories of Kahnawake, Akwesasne, and Kanehsatake, during the standoff over the Culbertson tract, as well as the anti-war protests of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Indigenous Zapatista movement in Chiapas, and the 2011 Egyptian uprisings. He is author of Islam & Anarchism: Relationships & Resonances (Pluto Press, 2022). He wrote his transnational ethnographic and historical-archival PhD dissertation on Islam & Queer-Muslims: Identity & Sexuality in the Contemporary (2019). This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and is part of Until Liberation: A Series for Palestine by Haymarket Books cosponsored by Palestinian American Organizations Network, Mondoweiss, Spectre, Dissenters, Tempest, Palestine Deep Dive, The New Arab, and more. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work. A portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to Palestine Legal. Watch the live event recording: https://youtube.com/live/J9-emuwWeP8 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

In this Better Satellite World podcast series, we explore the exciting developments in space-based data analytics and the absolutely game-changing nature of this relatively new part of the industry. The first episode features a conversation with Geoffrey Craig, Senior Product Strategist at Ursa Space Systems. Geoff joins SSPI's Lou Zacharilla to talk about how satellite imagery can be applied to Commodities. Geoffrey Craig is a Senior Product Strategist at Ursa Space where he focuses on developing remote sensing products for commodity markets. Prior to joining Ursa Space, Geoff spent eight years at S&P Global Platts covering oil futures, renewables & carbon markets. He was also a Cairo-based business journalist, during which time he traveled widely across the Middle East & North Africa. Geoff began his career as an International Trade Analyst at the US Department of Commerce. He holds a Master's degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor's degree from The George Washington University. Headquartered in Ithaca, New York, Ursa Space Systems is a satellite intelligence company providing on-demand analytic solutions. Through its radar satellite network and data fusion techniques, Ursa detects real-time changes in the phsyical world to understand trends and events at deeper levels than ever before.

In our 12th episode of Radical Publishing Futures, Nadine El-Hadi, senior acquisitions editor at Hoopoe Fiction joins Meg Arenberg from her office near Tahrir Square in Cairo. The discussion focuses on the special position of Hoopoe and the American University in Cairo Press as a pioneering publisher of Arabic literature in English translation that is also located in the Middle East North Africa region itself. The speak about the particular opportunities and challenges of publishing primarily translations, and the burden of shifting narratives of Arab culture and Islam that predominate in the West. Nadine also talks about the growing worldwide audience for translated literary fiction that has buoyed Hoopoe in its early years as a separate imprint of AUC Press, literary culture in Egypt, and the various paths by which a novel in Arabic ends up as an English title on Hoopoe's list. The two discuss the stunning new translation of Libyan novelist Ibrahim al-Koni's latest novel, The Night Will Have its Say, which retells the Muslim wars of conquest in North Africa, among other recent titles published at Hoopoe. Nadine El-Hadi is senior acquisitions editor at American University in Cairo Press. She runs both the press's Arabic Language Learning List as well as its fiction imprint, Hoopoe Press.

Vivos Therapeutics CEO Kirk Huntsman joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share an exciting development for the company. Vivos has just entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with NOUM DMCC, a Dubai-based company with a strong focus on diagnostic testing and the distribution of treatment products for healthcare providers and hospital networks specializing in obstructive sleep apnea patients across the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Huntsman elaborated on the significance of this partnership, highlighting how it addresses the growing demand for effective treatment alternatives to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) for individuals suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. With this agreement, NOUM has been granted exclusive distribution rights for Vivos' innovative products and services in several key countries in the MENA region. This list includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine. A noteworthy aspect of this collaboration is that NOUM will promptly initiate the process of seeking regulatory approvals for Vivos' medical devices within the respective countries. These approval timelines are expected to vary, ranging from a few weeks to several months, contingent upon the specific regulatory requirements of each nation. Huntsman also revealed to Proactive that their flagship daytime-nighttime appliance or DNA will undergo a clinical trial at Stanford Medicine. The trial's protocol has been finalized, and participant enrollment is slated to commence in early 2024. In this clinical trial, individuals diagnosed with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea will be randomly assigned to one of two groups for treatment: either using Vivos' innovative DNA appliance or a traditional CPAP machine. The trial will closely monitor and assess the participants' condition through sleep studies conducted before and after the treatment course, using in-lab polysomnography to measure changes in the patients' apnea-hypopnea index. This clinical trial represents a significant milestone for Huntsman and Vivos as it provides an opportunity to validate the efficacy of their DNA appliance in addressing OSA, a serious and widespread sleep disorder. #proactiveinvestors #vivostherapeuticsinc #nasdaq #vvos #biopharma #invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews

The Resilience Podcast is brought to you by the Resilience Institute. Discover how we measure and build resilience skills within organizations at ⁠⁠⁠https://resiliencei.com⁠⁠⁠. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠⁠Brad Hook⁠⁠⁠. How did Islam get into wellness? The story behind incorporating wellness programs into the insurance company What does the wellness market look like in the Middle East / North Africa? What does wellness mean to Islam? What is the impact of wellness? How can companies set the right budget for wellness? Islam is a Founder of Wisely Insure & Wisely Wellness. He also recently joined the Resilience Institute as a brand ambassador in the Middle East and North Africa. Connect with Islam: Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/islamabdelwahab/

On today's episode of All in the Industry®, Shari Bayer is on location in NYC with her guest William Drew, the Director of Content for 50 Best, which includes The World's 50 Best Restaurants, Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants, among others. William has been a journalist and editor for more than two decades, spanning business-to-business and consumer magazines, as well as national newspapers. He is a former editor of style magazine Arena and continues to write and comment on food and restaurants in the UK and international media. Having worked for the 50 Best organization for more than a decade, he is privileged to have eaten in a healthy proportion of The World's 50 Best Restaurants (though the experience hasn't been so healthy for his waistline). As a long-time spokesperson for the 50 Best brand, he also oversees the Academy voting structure that creates the lists and all content across both digital channels and live events. Today's show also features Shari's PR tip to celebrate the industry; Speed Round; Industry News Discussion on the first-ever ranking of The World's 50 Best Hotels taking place in London in September 2023, and recently released annual list of The 50 Best Bars in North America; plus, Shari's Solo Dining experience flashback to 2013 at Andoni Luis Aduriz's Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain (recipient of the Icon Award 2023/ 50 Best, and featured chef in Chefwise); and the final question. ** Check out Shari's new book, Chefwise: Life Lessons from Leading Chefs Around the World (Phaidon, Spring 2023), now available at Phaidon.com, Amazon.com and wherever books are sold! #chefwisebook **Photo Courtesy of Shari Bayer.Listen at Heritage Radio Network; subscribe/rate/review our show at iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify. Follow us @allindustry. Thanks for being a part of All in the Industry®. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support All in the Industry by becoming a member!All in the Industry is Powered by Simplecast.

Sunday 14 May, the Sixth Sunday of Easter, marks the International Day of Prayer for Eastern Christians. It's an opportunity to come together to pray for peace in the world – especially in the Middle East. But with so many noble causes competing for our attention, why is it important for us to pray for the Christians of the East with whom we share an indelible link? And how can we find out more about these Christian communities and the challenges they face? That's the subject of this Catholic News podcast. We're joined by Dr Harry Hagopian, an International Lawyer with experience in conflict resolution and a consultant on the Middle East North Africa region. Importantly, Harry is an Armenian Christian and was a former Assistant General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches. "When we pray for the Christians of the East, what we should say is, 'May thy will be done' and 'thy will' is also the will of the Christians there. They are a self-sustaining community. They have their own problems, they have their own challenges, but they also know their solutions better than we do sitting in the West watching EastEnders or Coronation Street advising them what they should or shouldn't do. That is not being in solidarity. That is religious colonialism. "What we need to say is, 'I'm with you. We share one common thing, which is Jesus Christ, and therefore I pray so that you have the will, the power and the strength to continue your witness and do what you do, which is continue your life as we do here, but in different circumstances.'" Subscribe You can subscribe to our Catholic News podcasts via Apple Podcasts, Amazon/Audible or Spotify.

The rapid pace of technological change is matched by the ever-evolving risks to financial stability and the global economy, as presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the acceleration of climate change and the volatility of digital financial assets. It is within this environment that central banks need to harness technology to capture, handle, integrate and use new data effectively. In this podcast, we explore key findings of an upcoming report assessing the challenges and opportunities facing central banks in the digital age. Specifically, our experts will dive into the operating models, technological platforms and integrated data strategies central banks are pursuing to thrive in a digital age. Host: Lewis McLellan, Editor, Digital Monetary Institute, OMFIF Guest: Oliver Berger, Head of Middle East & North Africa, State Street Corporation The management of efficient and organic data governance How are central banks approaching data transformation? What challenges do they face when ingesting, aggregating and analysing key economic and investment data from across their key functions? Which technologies or enterprise-wide solutions could be used to help mitigate these challenges? Follow-up question on cloud migration: How do central banks manage data sovereignty laws when considering migrating data to the cloud? The intersection of Process, People and Technology (PPT) from end to end

Learn how to be a Cross-Boarder Thought Leader - What is the challenge of a management consultant, investment banker, thought leader, and professor? - What is the difference between China and other geographies? - How do you lead Chinese teams? - How can you build a personal brand as a thought leader? - How do you develop a personal "moat", an advantage to differentiate on the market? - How can you differentiate from local professionals? - How should you build your international career to be happy and successful? Jeff is a leading expert on the digital strategies of the best US, China, and Asia companies. He does: Consulting and advisory. Executive programs on digital transformation. Keynotes at conferences and company events. Called the “Michael Porter of digital”, Jeff is one of the most followed analysts in Asia (+3.1M followers on LinkedIn). He was also the #1 LinkedIn Top Voice for Finance globally (2017) and a Top Voice for China (2016, 2017, 2018). He is frequently cited as a global influencer by companies such as Huawei and Alibaba. He has been seen on Bloomberg, CGTN, CBS News, ABC, and other programs. He is the host of the Tech Strategy podcast and is a CEIBS / Sasin business professor and best-selling author. Jeff was previously the Head of Direct Investments for the Middle East North Africa and Asia Pacific for Prince Alwaleed, nicknamed by Time magazine the “Arabian Warren Buffett”. His latest books are Moats and Marathons, the One Hour China Book, and the One Hour China Consumer Book. Jeff received an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MD from the Stanford University School of Medicine, a BA in Physics from Pomona College and a Fulbright Scholarship in Biophysics from the Karolinska Institute for Biomedical Science in Stockholm, Sweden. www.jefftowson.com Follow the wisdom of the Flexpat-crowd: Check out the following episodes to get more input on working in consulting: 102 Bridge Language and Culture gaps 85 Service Entrepreneur 100 Get your first Management job 62 Business Development for Consulting Services 7 How to be a CFO 65 Management Consulting 39 Differentiate from Chinese 14 Start your career in Consulting 87 Personal Branding Contact Francis on Wechat: Flexpat2020

REGIONAL SECURITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Dr. Sanam Vakil is the Deputy Director of the Middle East North Africa programme at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London where she leads project work on Iran and Gulf Arab dynamics. Iranian by birth, Dr. Vakil has lived most of her life outside of the Middle East. She obtained a Master's and then a PhD in international relations at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. She then lived in Germany with her husband before moving to London, and she commutes to Bologna twice a month to teach for Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe.

Captain Bill Foster, USN (retired) is President of Jones Group Middle East, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jones Group International, and is Chairman of the The American Chamber of Commerce Saudi Arabia (AmCham Saudi Arabia). Foster joins The 966 from Riyadh, where he talks about the changes ongoing in the Kingdom and the important work that AmCham is doing in Saudi Arabia serving as a platform for the American business community to connect, grow and prosper. AmCham's work includes analyzing and providing insights on policies and structural changes impacting American business interests through its eleven sector committees that represent established industries and emerging markets in Saudi Arabia. AmCham Saudi Arabia is a Kingdom-wide organization, with headquarters in Riyadh and active chapters in the Eastern Province and Jeddah. AmCham members and sponsors engage in leadership roles within its committees, participate in industry panels and policy forums, network at social events, and contribute to its monthly newsletters and social media platforms. AmCham Saudi Arabia is a registered nonprofit and NGO. In Bill Foster's role with the Jones Group Middle East, Foster manages the firm's business in the Middle East-North Africa region and leads a growing Riyadh-based team of consultants, focused primarily on the defense, security, and healthcare markets.

In this special edition of Lung Cancer Considered, three oncologists and lung cancer experts explore lung cancer in the Middle East (North Africa), spoken in Arabic. Host Dr. Nagla Karim, MD, PHD, Director of the Phase I Program at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute welcomes guests Dr. Abdelrahman Mohamed, MD, Head of Thoracic Surgery, NCI at Cairo University and Dr. Houssein Abdul Sater, MD, Physician Scientist, Immuno-Oncology and Regional Research Director, Cancer Institute at Cleveland Clinic Florida.

The anti-government protests sweeping Iran are now in their third month, with no sign of ending, despite a bloody crackdown. Women have been at the forefront of the unrest that began in mid-September following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab, or headscarf, "improperly". The protests have spread to more than 150 cities and 140 universities in all 31 of the country's provinces and are seen as one of the most serious challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. What are the protesters calling for? What is Iran's leadership planning to do to end the unrest - and what does this mean for Iran's relationship with its neighbours and with the West? Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts: Azadeh Moaveni - Iran expert, writer and associate professor of journalism at New York University. Esfandyar Batmanghelidj - founder and CEO of the Bourse & Bazaar economic thinktank specialising in the Middle East and Iran. Sanam Vakil - deputy director of Chatham House's Middle East North Africa programme in London. Also featuring : Sadegh Zibakalam - writer and Professor of political science at the University of Tehran Producers : Ellen Otzen and Rumella Dasgupta (Photo: A woman in a street in Tehran, Iran; Credit: Majid Asgaripour/WANA via REUTERS)

Tahaab Rais has won over 750 top-tier regional and global awards across Cannes, Effies, One Show, D&AD, Jay Chiats, Andy's, Clios, LIA, New York Festivals, WARC, Loeries, Dubai Lynx, among others, including a record of 340+ Effies. He's the MENAT CSO of Publicis Groupe. That's Middle-East-North-Africa-and-Turkey, a region with hundreds of millions of people in it. Some conversations I feel at home in. And this is one of them. In this interview, we discuss the ingredients that go into an agency being able to do award-winning work. We discuss the obvious stuff (like working with exceptional people) as well as the stuff that's only obvious when you no longer have it (like agency leadership that will fight for your ideas). We also discuss a campaign his team and client have been winning awards for lately: “James Jefferson: A Fraudster, Created by a Bank, to Reduce Financial Fraud” for Emirates NBD. You can find Tahaab here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahaab/ **

The global picture is one of high energy prices, rising interest rates and an impending economic slowdown. Despite all of this, the Middle East North Africa region has proven resilient in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund. However, the impact of taming inflation will be felt as we enter 2023. Jihad Azour, the IMF Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department, talks to host Mustafa Alrawi about the many risks to the outlook and what economies in the Gulf and wider Mena region can do to protect themselves. In this episode: The IMF's outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia (0m 09s) How the region faired in 2022 (3m 00s) The issues that might drag onto 2023 and the impact of inflation (6m 26s) The outlook for Lebanon and the Gulf (9m 08s)   Read more on our website: Global action needed to prevent food crisis in Middle East and North Africa, warns IMF Mena region faces a ‘turning point' and needs to press on with reforms as it recovers from pandemic, IMF says Subscribe to Business Extra for free to receive new episodes every week Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Podbean

Returning podcast guest Wayne Pederson (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/746aa163-d92f-4a79-97b2-33b74e9e277e (listen to our first interview with Wayne)) shares an up close experience with how God is still in the healing business. Faced with a 1 in 10 MILLION prognosis, Wayne and his fellow prayer warriors simply believed God for a miracle... and God delivered! But what happens when it seems God doesn't answer your prayer, when His sovereign plan for your life means you suffer tremendous loss? It's not so easy to sing His praises in those moments. In this interview, we dive deep into Wayne's miraculous recovery, the nature of miracles, whether or not miracles occur today (and more importantly why they occur) and advice for those suffering loss when it appears God has let us down. In this episode with Wayne Pederson, you'll discover: -Wayne recounts a recent medical issue, a tumor on the appendix...04:10 -Minor miracles during the early days of Wayne's prognosis...08:44 -Dealing with unexpected major news such as a cancer prognosis...15:50 -Prayer leads to a most welcome surgery experience...18:40 -Where is the church today regarding miracles?...22:12 -What to do when it appears God doesn't answer our prayers?...26:30 -Trusting in God regardless of the outcome...30:15 -Wayne's upcoming memoirs...33:12 -And much more! Resources mentioned: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/746aa163-d92f-4a79-97b2-33b74e9e277e (YBB Episode 38 with Wayne Pederson) Guest's bio and social handles: Wayne Pederson is president of Reach Beyond, an international ministry using media, health care and leadership development to reach those who have never heard the Gospel. HCJB serves in 5 global regions: Latin American, Asia-Pacific, Euro-Asia, Middle East-North Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa. Prior to Reach Beyond, Wayne served as vice president for Radio at Moody in Chicago, with 35 owned and operated stations, reaching 1 Million listeners each week, plus 800 radio outlets nationwide. WMBI AM FM in Chicago is flagship station to the Moody Network. Wayne spent most of his ministry career at Northwestern Radio in Minneapolis: From 1997-2002 as executive vice president for radio; executive director of SkyLight Network from 1994-1997 and manager of KTIS AM-FM from 1980-1994.

This is a segment of episode 331 of Last Born In The Wilderness “Anarcha-Islām: To Struggle Against Our Inner Fascisms w/ Mohamed Abdou.” Listen to the full episode: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/mohamed-abdou Purchase a copy of 'Islam and Anarchism' from Bookshop or directly from Pluto Press: https://bit.ly/3CHvXHb / https://bit.ly/3CbvQ4P Dr. Mohamed Abdou joins me to discuss 'Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances,' published this year by Pluto Press. What are the relationships and resonances between anarchism and Islam? Anarchism, through its Western manifestation, claims "no gods, no masters" as fundamental to anti-authoritarianism, both in theory and practice. Through that lens, what "relationships and resonances" then exist between anarchism and a religious and spiritual system such as Islam? And, ultimately, what can self-identified anarchists in predominately non-Muslim majority Western nations, and practitioners of Islam the world-over, learn from one another? Piercing through Orientalist, Islamophobic stereotypes of the "Muslim" in the Western imaginary, even in spaces that claim to be opposed to such shallow, two-dimensional characterizations, is crucial in forging solidarities against the common enemies of liberation and social justice: heteropatriarchy, authoritarianism, fascism, capitalism, colonialism. In reading 'Islam and Anarchism,' several key truths become abundantly clear: Islam is not a monolith, and was never intended to be; Islam contains, as Dr. Abdou describes it, "micro (and macro) anti-authoritarian commitments" -- ethics of disagreement, hospitality, and community making; Islam, in practice, is incongruitous with modern nation-states — in both its liberal-democratic and dictatorial forms. With these understandings, Dr. Abdou lays critiques of the narrow frames self-described anarchists operate within, but also toward Muslims and the contradictory relationship they have with national identities within their various geographical and historical contexts. Dr. Mohamed Abdou graduated from Queen's University with a Doctorate in Cultural Studies and holds an BAH/MA in Sociology. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University's Einaudi Center's Racial Justice Program and is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the American University of Cairo. He is also an interdisciplinary scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race, and Islamic studies, as well as anti-racist feminist, gender, sexuality, women, decolonial and post-colonial studies with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East-North Africa and Turtle Island. He is a self-identifying Muslim anarchist and diasporic settler of color living on Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, Anishinaabe-Haudenosaunee territory. He teaches (under) graduate courses on Settler-colonialism, Anti-Colonialism, and Anti-Imperialism, Intimacy, Family & Kinships, North African, Islamic, BIPOC and radical newest social movements, as well as on Research Methodologies, the Global Political Economy of Development, (Pre-) Modern/Classical and Poststructuralist Political Philosophy and Social Theory at the American University of Cairo, as well as Cornell and Queen's University. WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast / https://venmo.com/LastBornPodcast BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast EPISODE 300: https://lastborninthewilderness.bandcamp.com BOOK: http://bit.ly/ORBITgr ATTACK & DETHRONE: https://anchor.fm/adgodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://msha.ke/lastbornpodcast

Dr. Mohamed Abdou joins me to discuss 'Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances,' published this year by Pluto Press. What are the relationships and resonances between anarchism and Islam? Anarchism, through its Western manifestation, claims "no gods, no masters" as fundamental to anti-authoritarianism, both in theory and practice. Through that lens, what "relationships and resonances" then exist between anarchism and a religious and spiritual system such as Islam? And, ultimately, what can self-identified anarchists in predominately non-Muslim majority Western nations, and practitioners of Islam the world-over, learn from one another? Piercing through Orientalist, Islamophobic stereotypes of the "Muslim" in the Western imaginary, even in spaces that claim to be opposed to such shallow, two-dimensional characterizations, is crucial in forging solidarities against the common enemies of liberation and social justice: heteropatriarchy, authoritarianism, fascism, capitalism, colonialism. In reading 'Islam and Anarchism,' several key truths become abundantly clear: Islam is not a monolith, and was never intended to be; Islam contains, as Dr. Abdou describes it, "micro (and macro) anti-authoritarian commitments" -- ethics of disagreement, hospitality, and community making; Islam, in practice, is incongruitous with modern nation-states — in both its liberal-democratic and dictatorial forms. With these understandings, Dr. Abdou lays critiques of the narrow frames self-described anarchists operate within, but also toward Muslims and the contradictory relationship they have with national identities within their various geographical and historical contexts. Dr. Mohamed Abdou graduated from Queen's University with a Doctorate in Cultural Studies and holds an BAH/MA in Sociology. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University's Einaudi Center's Racial Justice Program and is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the American University of Cairo. He is also an interdisciplinary scholar of Indigenous, Black, critical race, and Islamic studies, as well as anti-racist feminist, gender, sexuality, women, decolonial and post-colonial studies with extensive fieldwork experience in the Middle East-North Africa and Turtle Island. He is a self-identifying Muslim anarchist and diasporic settler of color living on Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, Anishinaabe-Haudenosaunee territory. He teaches (under) graduate courses on Settler-colonialism, Anti-Colonialism, and Anti-Imperialism, Intimacy, Family & Kinships, North African, Islamic, BIPOC and radical newest social movements, as well as on Research Methodologies, the Global Political Economy of Development, (Pre-) Modern/Classical and Poststructuralist Political Philosophy and Social Theory at the American University of Cairo, as well as Cornell and Queen's University. Episode Notes: - Purchase a copy of 'Islam and Anarchism' at Bookshop or directly from Pluto Press: https://bit.ly/3CHvXHb / https://bit.ly/3CbvQ4P - Read a summary of 'Islam and Anarchism' at Political Theology: https://bit.ly/3e9nm6r - Learn more about Dr. Abdou and his work: https://www.mabdou.net - Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/minuetinGmajor - The music featured is by Waxie: https://waxiemusiclibrary.com WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast / https://venmo.com/LastBornPodcast BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast EPISODE 300: https://lastborninthewilderness.bandcamp.com BOOK: http://bit.ly/ORBITgr ATTACK & DETHRONE: https://anchor.fm/adgodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://msha.ke/lastbornpodcast

06th Oct

​The Middle East: More than 450 million people. Arabs, Egyptians, Jews, Greeks…to name just a few. Lots of oil…lots of trouble. But not much hope. Rex Rogers has just returned from a trip to the Middle East and North Africa regions. And boy, has he got stories. You don't want to miss one of them. And you won't—if you join us for The Land and the Book.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we are joined by Dario Sabaghi. Dario is a renowned journalist interested in international news, human rights, and cannabis. He has written for many of the world's top media publications such as Forbes, High Times, Rolling Stone & Middle East Eye to name a few. Topics: 1. The JuicyFields Story 2. The Middle East & North African Cannabis * Twitter - @TheCannabisRev2 * LinkedIn - @thecannabisreview * Episode Library - https://www.thecannabisreview.ie + Dario Sabaghi - https://www.dariosabaghi.com

Chef Tala Bashmi visits Google to discuss her successful culinary career and how she is bringing cuisine from the Gulf region to the forefront of the global food industry. Tala Bashmi started her culinary career by joining The Gulf Hotel Bahrain as a trainee and eventually working her way up the ranks. She studied at the Culinary Arts Academy in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she received her Masters of International Business in Culinary Management. Returning to the Middle East, she joined the cast of Top Chef, Middle East & North Africa, as a contestant, where she finished in the finals and showcased the modernized Bahraini cuisine that she would become famous for. Chef Tala then opened her inaugural restaurant Fusions by Tala in her home country of Bahrain, where she prides herself in her daring and willingness to experiment with a range of ingredients and techniques that come from different parts of the world. Visit http://g.co/TalksAtGoogle/TalaBashmi to watch the video.

Nima is joined by broadcaster Adriano Del Monte for a breakdown of the disaster concerning the Serie A TV rights in the MENA region (Middle East North Africa).The first episode of The Italian Football Podcast is free. To listen to all other full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).Follow us: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We know you will enjoy today's guest! On this episode, Greg Kelley interviews Matt Beemer from Club1040. Matt and his wife Julie started Club1040 30 years ago! Club1040 is a relational missionary movement focused on reaching unreached people around the world. Matt and Julie are currently based out of Lebanon, but their missional focus goes beyond just that country.  They do a lot of work within the Middle East/North Africa area. Learn more about how they train and mobilize indigenous believers within the 10/40 window to reach more people with the Gospel! And then learn how you can get involved! Links: Subscribe to our Podcast  Learn more about A THIRD OF US Download the Great Commission Action Guide Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow us on Facebook   Become an Advocate  Learn more About Club1040

Before the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, an Iranian activist, blogger, and translator who goes by the pseudonym Ashkan Mehr Roshan connected with an Afghan woman and freethinker. Together, they formed one of the biggest and most effective underground support communities for nonbelievers and religious minorities in the region. But shortly after the Taliban came to power, she fell silent. Ashkan hasn't heard from her since. Ashkan Roshan is an Iranian activist, blogger and podcaster who writes about philosophy, religion, and the politics of the Middle East/North Africa region.

We talk to three investors whose organizations are launching the $200 million Asia Climate-smart Landscape Fund. Iain Henderson, Managing Director of sustainable finance for ADM Capital Group. Shirin Jamshidi, Director of Investments for Asia and Middle East North Africa for the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Mark Koppejan, Program Manager for Rabo Foundation in Asia discuss the ins and outs of how this blended finance fund is coming together.

How Religion shapes and influences the trajectory of a country's development path is a subject I have long been curious about - and I found persuasive answers in the work of Economic Historian Jared Rubin. Jared's book is a tour de force on how rulers and elites use religious legitimacy to propagate their rule - and the developmental implications of such equilibrium. The first part of our conversation is to get him to explain some of the fundamental concepts of his book and analysis. It is impossible to capture his work in a single conversation, so curious listeners can check out his book - and his excellent blog posts here, here, and here. He also has a new book out with previous podcast guest, Mark Koyama (episode here).You can also get the podcast on all the popular platforms like Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, and the rest. The transcript of the conversation is available below. Thank you for listening and for your support.TRANSCRIPTTobi; Welcome to Ideas Untrapped podcast my guest today is Jared Rubin. Jared is an economics professor at Chapman University in California. He's an economic historian, and he has written a wonderful book titled Rulers, Religion and Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not. Welcome to the show, Jared.Jared; Thank you. It's great to be here. It really is.Tobi; Kind of like [an] obvious first question is why religion, really? I mean, so religion has always been this largely accepted but not really systematically defined or studied aspect of the society, especially when it comes to its influence on institutions and economic development. So what motivated you along this line of research?Jared; Yeah, so this goes back a long way. Religion is something I've always been interested in. Not necessarily, for me, a personal conviction and I'll be fine if it were, but it's been something mainly because I've had a hard time understanding its impact. It's something that very obviously influences decision making. So from my undergraduate days, I was interested in economics, which I view as, kind of, how and why people make decisions. And I was also interested in religion for actually similar reasons because it clearly influenced the way that people made decisions. So I took a lot of courses on various religious topics in undergraduate, but it was something that when I went to get my PhD in economics I never really thought I would pursue. I didn't think that it was something that economists studied. And then in my second year of graduate school, I took a class from who would eventually become my advisor, [...] Wright, who has done work on religion in the past, particularly the role that Islamic and Christian cultural attributes fed into economic development in the medieval period and my mind was blown that you could do this, that some economists took religion seriously. So I went to him, this was probably 2003 and I told him that I wanted to do a dissertation on religion and economic development over time. And at the time, precisely the setup to your question, he told me - that's fine if that's what you want to do, and that's what you're interested in, but know that you're going to have a hard time getting a job?Because there were very few economists at the time that were interested in religion. I mean, you could probably count them on two hands, the economists seriously thought about religion... which in retrospect, is kind of mind-blowing.For me, especially, thinking about medieval Europe, say... I don't understand how you can think about European economic development in the medieval period without thinking of the role of the church. If you think about almost any aspect of Middle Eastern economic history since the spread of Islam, very hard to think through the mechanisms through which growth either happens or doesn't without thinking about the role of Islam, and particularly religious authorities. So I decided to go down this path anyway. I knew that it was something I wanted to do with my career. That's the type of thing that got me really excited about working. And my view on things in general is, you only live once. So if you're fortunate enough to be in a position where you can do what you want, do it! I did eventually find a job, which was fortunate. And as I dug more and more into the history, you know, history was also something that I didn't necessarily think I was going to do... I've always read a lot and it always interested me... start to realize that, you know, something I kind of knew anyway, especially Islam-Christianity comparison, there are way more similarities than there are differences between the religion and religious tenets. Now, clearly, there are differences. But when it comes to the things that impinge on economic development, there's a lot of similarities, especially in history. Now, the question is, has religion played a role at all in economic development and that's what I was trying to think through. And when you start really reading the history, I think one of the things you must immediately latch on to, whether it be medieval European history or medieval Middle Eastern history, is the role that religion played in politics really mattered. And when you start getting a [...] that well, maybe even if these religions are pretty similar, actually, (they're not nearly as different as I think a lot of people think they are) the role they played in politics has diverged a lot over time, and the divergence to some degree coincides with the divergence in economic fortunes in the region. So that was the observation that inspired me to write this book. And to really then think through not just the role that religion has played in politics, but why it might differ across societies, and then how it might evolve over time based on the somewhat initial differences, and then what that might mean for economic development. So I ended up writing a few papers on this. But I decided that the time had come to write a book because I had enough, at least, I saw how the connections were made in my mind and between my papers, and that's where that came from. It's kind of a brief background.Tobi; Yeah, just for the audience, your work on religion is not just limited to the book, you've written numerous papers, and publicly available essays, which I'm going to be putting up links to some of it in the show notes. So I'll start my exploration with the evolution of big gods in society, because religion has been with humanity for as long as we know. But tell me, how did big Gods, monotheistic religion become the most popular flavour of human religious practice? I know you've written about this.Jared; Yeah. So this is something that it's certainly more in the field of anthropology. So there's been some really good anthropological work recently done on this, and actually some work by some economists as well. And this is something that's also, you know, as I was just mentioning, it's intimately related with politics. So small gods, this is not a term that is meant to describe them or anything like that in any way, shape, or form. But it's just meant to say [that] we call small gods, like, gods that have a specific purpose. It might be a god that brings water to a population or heals sickness, things like that. That's a small god, you know, it's a god that has a specific purpose.Big gods are gods that has broader powers. So certainly, when we think about monotheistic gods, those are very big gods, it's the God in a sense, but polytheistic gods can be big gods as well. But what big gods can do is what this literature cites as a purpose of big gods is that it can be a way to legitimate rule. It can be a way that if a ruler has the support of a big god, whatever that means, right? And that can be based on some tenet of the society that whoever's ruling is God-ordained, there might be some clerical class in a society that ordains a ruler as God-ordained. But the idea is that big gods, especially centralized gods (and this is where you kind of get towards a more monotheistic faith) are much better at legitimating rule, at keeping rulers in power, and this is where we get autocracy from too. So a lot of these early societies that had big gods, these were the ones that ended up being a little less fair, that kind of really centralized power in a small group of people because gods like that could be used in that way. You know, when you have a variety of gods you can appeal to, when you have these ''smaller gods'', each group can have their own god. And in that way, it's really hard for any one political group to monopolize divine power. So the recent research on this has mainly connected the origin of these types of gods with political power. And this is something I haven't done my own original research on. But I've written a few things, especially online, we have a blog that I worked for that kind of summarizes this works. I think it's really interesting and not just interesting, but it's a really important precursor to my own work to think about where these gods come from in the first place. Because where my own work comes from is well into monotheism. We're talking about the origins of Christianity and Islam that's well past the point where big gods have formed originally. The real idea is big gods start coming about when humans settle down in society. So, around the Neolithic revolution 8,000-10,000 years ago, so...One other thing that really popped immediately in your book is the role of elites in society. And this is something that has been a bit elusive, at least, in my own experience to define. Tobi; I have a friend [and], I mean, when we talk about Nigeria, and how elites are not really doing enough or talking about the right things or doing the right things, the usual retort is, oh, yeah, well, who are the elites? And I find that it's a surprisingly harder question to answer than it sounds. Jared; Yeah. Tobi; So you describe elites as anyone who can influence how people whom they do not know, act. Can you explain that a bit? Who exactly are the elites in society? How do they emerge?Jared; Yeah, I think this is a really important question. And it's a question that I don't think there's one answer to in the sense, like, I wanted to define elites in a certain way, because I wanted to be able to kind of think through what I described as elites, and this was the commonality. But certainly, if you read other works, they'll define elites in a slightly different way. There are certain people we all know are elite, right, like presidents, or people on the highest courts, things like that. But then there are other people that might not be so obvious whether they're a leader or not, like a local priest or imam or something. Is that person an elite? You know, maybe some people would say yes, some people would say no. So yes, for my book and my work more generally, I use this definition, because it has practical value. So it's this idea that to be an elite, you need to be able to influence the actions of other people, particularly people you don't know. Now, you ask two questions, both of which are really good. One is, how do you become an elite? This is something I've been thinking about a lot for work I'm still doing now is, what is the source of power? Because elites have power, almost by the definition of what I described, if you really want to think about why this matters, it's [that] there's some sorts of power that they have.Now, this differs by the type of elite, some of the ones I'm concerned with in the book of religious elites. Now, the idea here tends to be that religious elites (have) either through their study or through their position or something have access to something people care about. Which is, you know, either the Word of God or some places and times actually begin to connect to the supernatural, something like this. And because they have privileged access to ''we'll just call it the supernatural''... something people really care about, that gives them power to do other things to influence the way people act. And it might be in a way that's consistent with religious tenets and might not. There's been plenty of instances where not. In other cases, there's access to coercive power that can make one elite. This is something where you can say warlords could be considered elite in the sense that at the top level, they have access to coercive power, that because people fear the use of coercive power, it allows them to make people act in a way that they don't want to act.You know, more generally, military elites. And there's a lot of grey area here, you know, so in the military, for instance, who's elite who's not? The lowest rank military person probably isn't, you know, they might be able to be on the street with a gun or something, trying to direct people to do something, but it's not really their actions that is causing this, it's the people above them.Then the very top people are elite. Somewhere in the middle, you just have to kind of make a decision if you're thinking about the social scientific definition. And then this other [group] who I describe as economic elite, who with their access to resources, gives them power. Whether through a formal political process or not, you know, oftentimes, especially in the modern world, it's often through formal political processes. But there's a lot of non-formal processes as well through which this happens, certainly through markets, for instance. You know, market power can be really [a] domineering force. So by this definition, my definition is much more broad than many definitions, especially, in the politicacience literature, because by my definition, there's a lot of elites in many societies. And a reason I think that it's important to consider this idea of there being many elites is that there's many people in general and in societies that can influence the political process. Now, to be clear, it doesn't mean that just because you're elite, you'll influence a political process. The way I've described it in my own work is I do use game theory, or at least is the idea of thinking about the interactions between these various people in societies. And when you go through a Game in Game Theory, you think about how they interact with each other, and what are their motivations? What are the outcomes of their interactions, that's really ultimately what you want to get at. And so I think about the game as being between elites. Now, certainly there are people in the background, right, that aren't elites. The non elites are the people that give elites power in a sense because it's those very non elite states that the elites can influence. And that's the very source of their power. So there is a bit of a tautology here, in a sense that elites power because they can influence people, and then non elites follow elites because they can be influenced. But it's also one of these things. We see it across societies. And I do think that there are many reasons why one can become an elite. And those also differ across societies as well.Tobi; In your book, you also describe a class of people who are still elites, as propagating agents of a ruler. But, one thing became very clear your argument that a ruler seeks to propagate their rule. That's what they desire, you know, isn't this a bit of a public choice assumption, some would question that to say that, Oh, well, just ruling for its sake is not the only desire of a ruler. Some rulers want to do good, some want to, you know, like there are diverse motivations and desires for a ruler. But your mechanism sort of relies on this propagation of rule. What is your argument for choosing to go in that direction?Jared; That's a good question, because this is something that, you know, books have been written on, you know, why do religion? What are the motivations? I mean, you're right, certainly, some have much more altruistic motives, i don't deny that. Some have the exact opposite. Essentially wanting to seek as many rents as possible. And then there are others in the middle. They might be altruistic towards their own ethnic group, and very much the opposite towards others. And this is more of a theoretical concept. Because when we need to think about the interactions between various people or groups in society, we do need to think about what they need, what they want. And what I was trying to do in this book was to think about the most general way of capturing this. And I actually agreed that you can think about it in other ways, and I don't think this captures 100% of motivations, but all of the stuff we've been talking about here, whether it be pure altruism, or you know, something like that, or really wanting to improve society. Or again, on the other hand, wanting to capture as many rents for you or your small group of people. In order to do that, you have to stay in power. And so at its base, I want to minimize the assumptions we make. Because once you make an assumption about, say, wanting to maximize tax revenue, or state revenue or something like that, you know, because certain types of rulers that would really benefit, well then you're you're no longer capturing the type of society where, you know, as you mentioned, maybe the ruler just wants to do best for their society. So what I was trying to do, I was trying to think through a way that we might discuss leadership, rulership in a way that is going to be true of all types of societies. So even in democracies, you have rulers at many levels wanting to be reelected. So they're constrained in ways to do that.Clearly in very autocratic governments, no matter what the autocrat wants to do, they can't do it if they don't stay in power. But yeah, I certainly agree that if you wanted to study, especially, a certain type of rulers or a type of ruler of certain motivation, you could think about this a little different, for sure. Good point.Tobi; Going with your mechanism now, so for a ruler to propagate it's rule, you identify two types of agents. One is legitimizing agents and the other coercive agents. But you see cases, and that transverses many societies... you see cases where there is a sort of overlap between the two where the faction of a ruler has some legitimacy, but also uses force to entrench that legitimacy. So disentangle both types of agents for me slightly.Jared; Yeah, so this is good. Maybe for the sake of listeners, that's a word I use that is not really too common in the literature - this term, propagating agents. To your previous question, I find propagating rulers as staying in power. So a propagating agent is somebody in society that can help you stay in power.If it's a religious agent, they might have access to the Word of God or something like that. A military agent, as you mentioned, is a type of coercive agent - one that has power. And to your question, you're absolutely right and I think nearly every society in human history has had some combination of legitimacy and coercive power. In fact, you know, you really can't have rulership without some degree of coercive power. If a ruler has zero access to coercive power, they will be overthrown quite easily. You can, in theory, have a society that has zero legitimacy, and you know, it's run completely by coercive power. We would say that there have been a few societies that have, at least, come close to that. But again, that ruler is very tenuous in their rule, because there's gonna be a lot of people in society that don't think that they're the rightful ruler. I should also just note quickly that legitimacy is a very complex concept, but we can think about it in a simplistic way, as just that one has political legitimacy when people view that person's having the right to rule. And that can come from a lot of sources. It can come from, certainly, religious elites. It can come from economic elites. It can even come from military elites, depending on, you know, the cultural attributes of the society. So I think, say, certainly, Genghis Khan had this type of legitimacy. And then this was true, at least, in my reading of Mongol societies, that those who could fight have political legitimacy as well as the right to rule. One of the ideas put in my book, to get directly to your question here, is that you can think about it as not necessarily disentangling the two, but what weight do you put on the two. Does the ruler use 95% coercive power, 5% legitimacy or the reverse? Now, one thing that I argue is that there are many types of legitimacy that are relatively inexpensive, from the rulers perspective, you know. So, of course, coercive power is often pretty expensive, for two reasons. One, it's just often expensive in terms of resources, you know, either be outfitting a military or police forces or things like this. And the other thing is that it's expensive in the sense of giving too much coercive power to groups in society is also a threat to your own rule. Because those are the people that are most likely to overthrow you.Now, legitimacy... to gain legitimacy, I think of it as kind of interaction between rulers - I should say, rulers here doesn't necessarily have to be a person, maybe a small group of people [or] something like that... just the ruling elite - and those in society that can provide legitimacy. Again, whether they be religious elites, economic elites, something like that.And we can think about this as a trade-off. There's going to be some types of maybe policies, sometimes it's just pure payments. Like it's certainly in both Christian and Muslim societies that much of their history, religious authorities will say tax-exempt, things like that, you know, as a part of the payoff. They also might want some types of policies. Oftentimes, the religious elite maybe wants suppression of rival religions, things like that. In the grand scheme of things that tends to be relatively inexpensive, relative to other forms of legitimacy. So then it's attractive. And that's one of the outcomes or the way that I'm thinking about it in the interactions between different groups. You know, some kind of basic economic comparison. There's going to be benefits from using different forms of legitimacy or coercion, there are also costs. So we think about what's the cost-benefit trade-offs, and rulers are going to use some types and not others. And that's going to differ by society, it's also going to differ over time. One thing my book tries to do is look at the evolution of these trade-offs over time and why they diverge between the regions.Tobi; You also explained and described something called the rules of the game, as institutions - be it culture, norms and the practices of the society which sort of set the boundaries of what a ruler and the elites can sort of do in a society. So, I mean, describe that to me a bit. How is that a limiting factor? Because a lot of people kind of assume that once you achieve some legitimacy, maybe through religious legitimacy by, say, converting to the most popular religion of population, you can do what you want. But you made it clear that there are some limiting factors in different societies to what rulers and their agents can do. Describe this process.Jared; Yeah, so that term ''the rules of the game'' is a very famous one used by the Nobel Prize-winning economist, Douglass North. And that's, again, even for him, you know... that's like a very simplistic way to think about institutions. And North goes well beyond this. And then they [other economists] have gone even further beyond this. But the way that these work do not mean that actors, or even rulers, can act unilaterally and do whatever they want. They're constrained by various things. And one of the real things that I focus on here is this degree to which religious elites can really legitimate rule and how effective they are at doing this.So in some societies, religious elites are extremely effective at doing this; and this is not just to do with their effort or something like that, it's based on history. It's something that historically, in some societies, religious elites have been very good, so they continue to be very good, at least for the short run. What I do in the book, of course, is you know, look at certain parts of the Middle East. Religious elites can be extremely effective at either propping up rule or the opposite, or challenging rule. Look at the 1979 Iranian Revolution - that's exactly what happened there. On the other hand, religious elites may no longer be powerful where they once were powerful. I mean, Western Europe is like that today. Religious elites tend to not have much power in Western Europe today, in large part because society is not very religious, whereas they used to. So again, that's kind of a constraint that's faced by a ruler at any one given point in time. So maybe a medieval European ruler would have desired to have religious legitimacy because in the medieval period religions are still very effective at legitimating rule. In the modern-day, certainly Prime Ministers, Presidents are going to look elsewhere as they tend to. So when we talk about, you know, the rules of the game, we can think about this as a rule. It kind of sets the stage for how this game as I described it between those who rule and those who can keep them in power, how they interact with each other.So let's get right into the meat of your argument proper, which is how Christianity and Islam emerged when they did, and how the relationship between both religions and their societies and the institutions they propagated, sort of lead to economic divergence, so to speak. Tobi; And so I'm going to ask you two questions. I'm trying not to assume too much knowledge for the audience here. So I'm going to ask you two related questions. So describe for us briefly how the emergence of Islam [happened] when it did, and the emergence of Christianity when and where it did [and] how that came to influence the divergence that was to come later in the society where they sort of propagated these influences. And my second question, just to note, is that you made very clear - which also I should state for the sake of the audience - that you're not arguing that there is something inherently wrong with any religion. Though, some might argue that, well, you kind of have to say that, right? So...Jared; Yeah, no, I think the second question follows from the first question, though, too, because this is actually really important to clarify if the audience hasn't picked up on that yet is, this book doesn't really look at the tenets of religion. In fact, Islam and Christianity are much closer on most fronts than they are apart. So to the extent that religion might have played a role in what ended up becoming a larger economic divergence, it's hard to look at the tenets of religion as the core cause. And moreover, something the book also notes is that a good explanation of any type of divergence...you know, economic divergence in the long run, but especially between Europe and the Middle East has to also account for the fact that the Middle East was far ahead of Europe for a long time. Minimum, 400 years, probably 700 years.[It] doesn't really matter exactly how long in a sense that, you know, it was a while and eventually Europe pulled ahead. But that fact in and of itself suggests that a simplistic argument about there being something about Islam that holds economies back is a foolhardy one. I mean, how do you explain that the Middle East for the first, say, 600 years after the spread of Islam was so far ahead of Western Europe, on every front - economically, scientifically, culturally, technologically, everything? So specifically, your first question, though the book looks at and draws out the implications of one very important difference between not so much the theology or the tenets of the religion but a historical difference between the two that did get involved institutionally into the two regions.This stems from the way that the religions were born and it has to do with their role in legitimating role. And the book argues that, for historical reasons, Islam is more effective at legitimating rule. And it cites numerous passages not just in the Quran, but also the Hadith, which are the kind of the second most important set of religious sayings that's associated with teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. And the reason that the book argues... and I'm not the first person by any means to note this... that Islam is better, or is more effective at legitimating rule is the conditions under which these religions were born. So Christianity was born in the Roman Empire. And for its first 300 years, it was a minority religion, which was essentially trying to survive in the Roman Empire. And for this reason, we see the writings in early Christianity when the real doctrine in the corpus of Christian doctrine is really being formed are not about legitimating rule. In fact, it's quite the opposite. You know, there's the famous quote attributed, at least, to Jesus, you know, ''render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God, what is God's''. The idea of being these two separate spheres, and the religious sphere is not part of that of the Caesar, the secular ruler. And then there are plenty of others who at the time, you know, Augustine and numerous Popes that had similar ideas. On the other hand, Islam formed at the same time, what was at the time the world's largest ever empire was formed. Muhammad himself was a political figure, as well as a religious figure.Then, in the first 30 years, the first caliphate, then under the Umayyad Caliphate, within a 100 years of the spread of Islam you have it going from the Atlantic Ocean, you know, in terms of the Iberian Peninsula, all the way to South Asia.This is the largest empire the world has ever seen. And as this empire is expanding, this is the same time that the corpus of Islamic thought is being formed. It's being formed differently in different contexts. But because it's forming alongside a growing empire, there is need for Islamic justification for political rule. So from a very early period, you get Islamic doctrine and this being kind of ingrained institutionally that a rightful ruler is one who follows islam, however that is defined. And again, what this ends up doing is, eventually, after the Islamic clerical classes eventually come about in the ninth and 10th century, this ends up giving them a lot of power because they're the ones who can define whether a ruler is acting like a good Muslim or not. And because of the principles, you know, the kind of what we might call a cultural principle of what makes legitimate rule, it gives religious authorities a lot of power on the one hand, because they can be the ones that describe it. But then, when a ruler has this legitimacy, it gives the ruler a lot of power to act however they like because they're viewed as legitimate and they might not necessarily need as much coercive powers as they otherwise would.Tobi; You sort of answered my second question. I agree with you, by the way. But what I've noticed with people who get defensive about this kind of argument is to insist on the tenets argument and say, Oh, no, one of these two religions, Islam, in particular, is quite politically prescriptive. And because of that you cannot just separate the tenets of each religion from its institutional or social or political influence, right. But you are saying that, because there was a divergence in the rules of the game, so to speak, when these two religions started growing, influenced the text, the tenants, the practices, and how much legitimacy each can command, you know? So I guess my next question would be, at what point... because like you said, the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire was a pretty successful Empire for hundreds of years. Jared; Yes. Tobi; When did it change? When did religious legitimacy and the way it worked in the Middle East become a sort of economic albatross?Jared; So this is the great question. And I think this is the important question to answer because I would actually argue, and I do argue in the book, that initially, this was something that actually was economically beneficial relative to what, say, post-Roman Europe was going through at the time; and even relative to what, you know, societies, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, but even throughout the Middle East North Africa look like, you know, there were empires at the time. But one thing early Islam did was it helped unite these various regions under one rule, which meant fairly consistent rule of law, even though you know, we don't think of these as pure rule of law societies, but there was consistent rule, they use the same currencies, they could expect similar protections. One thing that religion does do, you know, this isn't unique to Islam, but because Islam at least, was mainly initially spread amongst merchants, so this was something that [for] the broader populations of these regions, it took a while for them to more broadly Islamise, but merchants were among the first to convert. And this is something that, at least, brought them into similar social circles, it improved their networks. And I think this helps explain - it's not the only thing, but it helps explain the economic growth of what we might think of as a broader Islamic world for its first 400 years.This is known in the historical literature as the golden age of Islam from the mid-seventh century till about 1000 or so. And I think you can make the case that the fact that these rulers were in fact strong, for the most part, was a reason for this. And certainly, at least up until like the late 9th century, when the Abbasid Empire which was the large empire, beginning the mid 8th century was kind of at its peak. This is a reason I think that Islam plays its role. And again, I mentioned a few minutes ago that I think an explanation that focuses on religion also does need to explain why Islam was associated for so long with a relatively economic successful region. Whereas, you know, this is the same period - that period mid-seventh century to 1000 or so where Europe is not nearly as successful, you know, it's still kind of in its post-Roman doldrums. Even when you get some type of unification like under Charlemagne, the Carolingian Empire, there's no real capacity to rule in most of those places. And I think, in part at least, that's due to differences in the way that these rulers - to use my term of propagating rule. Now to get at your big question, what we really need to explain then is actually a reversal. So the year 800, ironically enough, is often a year that's pinpointed, because on the one hand, in Western Europe, it's kind of a famous year because it's the year that the Pope crowned Charlemagne. But it's also right at the height of the Abbasid Empire in terms of its economic power, in particular. And this is a year that, you know, around this time, early ninth century, that economic divergence between the two regions was probably at its greatest. So we then say, well, what was the source of reversal? Now, I want to make it clear that I'm pinpointing one source, this is by no means the only source. There are many different reasons, I mean, nothing as big as 1000 years of economic history is going to be mono-causal. But one thing I look at is, we can start with the Middle East and North Africa and say, because religion was so effective at propagating rule, there was very little incentive for political authorities to change this. They stayed in power, by ceding relatively little to religious authorities, they certainly had to have access to coercive powers, which they did. There's been a lot of good work that has looked at what access to coercive powers meant for the stability of Muslim empires as well as their economic strength. But it meant that religious authorities remained powerful and, importantly, what I then got to argue is that it meant that economic elites were kept out of the ruling coalition. Before I go too deeply into this, I want to also make it clear that, you know, having a society run by economic elites is generally not a good thing. You know, purely economic elites. Because economic elites, you know, people that are engaged in commerce, maybe merchants, things like that, we should be thinking about them just like we think about all actors as being somewhat selfish.They have their own desires that they want satisfied. And in this case, it may benefit them at the expense of society. One thing I note, though, is that the big things that economic elites want from the political bargain are things that tend to benefit society more broadly.And the two big ones I point out in the book because these come up again and again in our history are some types of protections often for their property. But you know, more broadly for especially commercial interactions, you know, so you have some type of means to appeal when you're being cheated, or certainly when your rights are being infringed in any way. And there's a very large literature in economics that suggests these types of rights are really important for economic development. And the other thing is investment in large scale public goods. Things like transport networks, roads, bridges, canals, things like that. And a whole host of other public goods, eventually education becomes something, even though that's actually quite a bit later. There's a long, long history of economics that suggests that those things are typically most efficiently provided by government. Again, the economic elites want these types of things, because they benefit themselves. They do benefit themselves, but they also happen to benefit society more broadly. So on this front, you could say, Well, if the economic elite really don't have a seat at the bargaining table, in this case they don't have a seat because rulers don't need them. They have plenty of legitimacy, say, through religion and giving up stuff like property rights is among the most expensive things that can be asked for. So rulers really don't want to give that up if they don't have to. On the other hand, in Europe, what ends up happening around the year 1000 or so... it starts in northern Italy, in the low countries, is you start to get some seeds of commercial development. Trade, actually, a lot of the trade at least begins with the Byzantine Empire and the Muslims. And with this, as trade starts to expand, some of the things that the religious authorities might impinge upon, while we look at say like moneyed interest or stuff like that. But that's actually I think less important in the broader scheme of things.What's probably more important is that economic elites gain more power. And, you know, to go back to the broader narrative in the book, because Christian religious authorities actually have less legitimating power, they're less effective at legitimating rule. [And] once there are these other sources of power that come up in a society that can provide rulers with things like tax revenue, rulers seek them out. So this is precisely the period where Europe goes through a major kind of overhaul in its Church-State relations. So the most famous episode and this is called the investiture crisis, where it essentially pits the papacy versus various secular rulers. And this is a period, a medieval period where religious legitimacy remains important, but it loses some of its value and where it loses its power, it's economic elites that gain. I fast forward a little bit to the Reformation, which where it takes place kind of permanently undermines the role of, certainly, the Catholic Church, but just more generally, [the role of] religion in legitimating rule. And in those places, that's where you really start to see economic elites, mainly in the form of Parliaments becoming much more powerful. And there again, that's where you start to see these economic elites bargaining for various things that improve the economic development in the region. Again, they're doing it for their own personal reasons. it's not to say that economic elites are altruistic, kind-hearted people that want what's best for society. Oftentimes, it's quite the opposite, they just want things that benefit themselves. But some of the things they want are the types of things that we think of that portend broader economic success. So in a nutshell, that's kind of the very broad scope of the argument. Certainly, there's historical detail that the book goes into. But yeah...Tobi; Some of the implications of your work are so deep, that I'm not quite sure I can do it enough justice. But one thing I want to now get at is the issue of persistence. I mean, the period you called in the book, and also your research, they are pretty long enough, some will say, for us to see maybe some convergence. I mean, there has been the Industrial Revolution, the first one, the second one, and I mean, now we live in an age of globalization. And some of this divergence can still be observed. So specifically, speaking of religious legitimacy and how growth retarding it can be in certain conditions, how persistent is that effect? And secondly, how does legitimacy wither?Jared; I think that this is kind of a key question in terms of thinking about these long-run processes. And I think one answer to this is that, in part, at least, it comes down to incentives.It comes down to incentives of the ruling elite to continue to use religious legitimacy. And to kind of go back to what we're talking about initially, we can think about this in terms of cost benefits. And what we might think about as the costs here are what economists think about costs as - it includes opportunity cost, the foregone cost of using something, a different form of legitimacy in this case.As long as the costs are relatively low, which we might think of that as broadly being the case with religious legitimacy, then it's likely to persist. This doesn't necessarily entail anything deterministic about... you know, just because a religion is good at legitimating rule, it's definitely going to persist, there might be other things in societies that come about. In fact, you know, we have seen this here and there, you know, so say, after World War One, Turkey became a fairly secular society, at least in terms of its politics. So there's nothing absolute at all here in terms of it persisting, but what we can say, and I think this is where if you do economics correctly enough is strong. But if you use economics in a good way, you never want to say something's definitely going to happen. But you can say things are more likely to happen because people are incentivized to do something in a certain way. And that's what I think I would describe here in terms of persistence. And I think this same logic also helps us understand why in this case, things don't persist. Why the use of religious legitimacy doesn't persist. And these might be things outside of what we might think of as the ruling elite or the religious elite's control. When, you know, what I was just describing... when you have a reemergence of commerce in Europe, for instance, in what is known in the historical literature as the commercial revolution, happening approximately between 1000 - 1300, that changes the cost-benefit calculation. And because the benefits of religious legitimacy were lower, and now the costs are higher, because you're essentially keeping this increasingly powerful economically outside the political circle if you continue to rely on religious legitimacy, that changes the calculation. And maybe you do want to start offering these economic elites political rights, but it would come at the expense of political power for the religious elite. But that's precisely what ends up happening in the medieval period in Europe, is that these economic elites increasingly get rights throughout central Europe and actually in other parts of Europe as well.They start forming communes, which are like the city-states, which are mainly made for merchants by merchants to trade with each other, but they gain a lot of rights and these rights come at the expense of the religious elite. The religious elites have relatively little power in these areas, and these areas become the economic workhorses of medieval Europe. And they benefit the rulers, in some cases, immensely and this becomes one of the primary sources of tax revenue and a whole host of things. So again, you know, I think if we think about it in terms of this cost-benefit framework, we have to know the history, certainly, to know why these costs and benefits might change. But I think it does give us a framework for thinking about why things persist as well.Tobi; Thinking about incentives the way you just described it, especially of the elites, and this is not just about religion, you see some societies that may be too reliant on rent from resource revenue and their struggles to diversify also struggle with this incentive problem. So I guess my point would be, is it fair or, should I say, reasonable to conclude that a lot of modernization projects that we are seeing whether in terms of foreign aid or interventions or setting up democracies in, perhaps, states that have no history of that form of governance, are they all efforts that are doomed to fail if the incentives of local elites remain the same?Jared; Oftentimes, yes. And this is where I think that this question is extraordinarily deep in that this gets at so many different things in human history. And I think, you know, we can broadly say that transporting something that worked, whether it be institutional design, whether it be just funding for certain types of things that worked in one society, it doesn't necessarily work in another society if, in this case, the institutions... and you could even say that there are cultural incentives too that, you know, when people are imbued with a certain view of the world, then they're not just going to be able to adopt new things in a whole host of ways. So yes, I would argue pretty strongly that certainly elites that govern the political process, when incentives don't change, you're unlikely to get a change in political behaviour. So if you really want to think about what might be a driver of societal change, at some point, the incentives of the elites have to change. So this can come from a variety of ways. This can come from certainly international, either pressure or incentives, or, you know, it can be financial incentives. It can come from the ground up. What I just described in Europe was more of a ground up thing, in that the incentive of political elites only changed after commerce really started to reemerge. And on the other hand, talking about commerce reemerging in Europe, it still wasn't flowing, as far as we can tell, nearly as much as it was in the Middle East at the time. So what that indicates is that... at least to me, is that the incentives for Middle Eastern rulers or North African rulers at the time to employ religious legitimacy was just so much stronger that it was going to take a lot more to undermine those incentives. So again, that's where I think to your question, really understanding the incentives that authorities face, [that] the various parts of the ruling coalition face is really important to even begin to understand what is possible in terms of change.Tobi; My final question to you, which is also a bit of a tradition on the show, is what's the one big idea that you would like to see spread everywhere? It may be something you're working on new [or] old, it may be something that you find interesting. So what is it?Jared; By spread everywhere, you mean [the] broader population? Tobi; Yes.Jared; I think it's [the] implications of my work. It's not my work in particular, but it's the type of stuff that got me interested in this in the first place. It is that if you really want to take a grand, grand, grand view, I think with both myself and I think a large fraction of people who go into economics, why we get in the field is to understand both wealth and poverty. Because for me understanding poverty, you have to understand wealth as well, you have to understand how it's created. Because I think what most of us, I would hope one, at least one of the main reasons we're interested in this is because understanding the way economies work as a source to help people.You know, the people that need it the most. And, you know, something I've long been interested in is the role that religion has played in this because I think it's one of many factors. And again, I want to be very clear, I have a book coming out early next year with Mark Koyama. He's been a guest on your show in the past about how the world became rich, and we look at a lot of different reasons in that book. So this is one of the reasons but I do think that there are massive misconceptions in the role that religion has played and can play in the future. And I think that if we want to say think about the broader Muslim world, for instance... you know, what worked to raise the economic profile and improve the economic development of, say Western Europe initially, my argument was that it was in part getting religion out of politics. I don't think that's going to work, though, in large parts of the Muslim world for reasons we just discussed. So an implication of both my work but also something that is long interested me is this idea that tenets of religion themselves are not things that have a massively damaging impact on economic development. And I think that oftentimes, that's something that is easy to pinpoint, especially for people who want to blame religion for something. But when we think about the role that religion plays in politics, and this is not unique to religion, it can be the role that the military plays in politics, can be the role that actually, frankly, certain types of economic elites play in politics. And if we really want to improve the lot of... there's still a billion or so people in the world that live on $3 a day or less...the role of local politics plays a role in depressing the capacity for those people to just get to a point where thinking about what they're going to eat is not dominating their lives.And it differs by society. But I do think that attempts to improve the lots of those people that aren't as concerned with the political are not going to get far. And that's a lot of, you know, especially Western NGO types. And this is not to say, I mean, many of them do extremely good and important work. But if we really want to get at the source of lifting, you know, at least the most dire of poverty out of the world, I think it's the political that we really need to address. And we need to address it in different ways in different societies. This is not by any means to say that all we need to do is impose democracy. It's exactly the opposite in many cases because democracy when it's imposed, and does not arise organically often does not work that well. So it's thinking about local context, it's thinking about how rulers stay in power, it's all of these things, and including religion. This is in part to say, there's no panacea. There's no silver bullet that's going to affect the politics in various places in the same way. But I do think that if we can pull on generality out which, much more importantly, can help alleviate the most dire of poverty, it's to really try to affect the political. That's the thing that I'm frankly hoping to continue to work on for the next 40 or so years to thinking about the historical determinants of this and what that can teach us for the present.Tobi; Thank you so much. My guest today has been Jared Rubin, economic historian and professor of economics at Chapman University. Thank you very much, Jared, for joining me.Jared; Thank you so much. This has been really fun. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ideasuntrapped.com/subscribe

In 1986, Iran's fertility rate was 6.5 children per woman. Today, at 1.6 (roughly half that of Israel's), it is the lowest in the whole Middle East/North Africa region. What caused the birth rate to fall well below replacement level? What are the consequences for Iran? Is this welcome news to the United States and Israel?

Ayman Wahab and Sherif El Fouly of Special Olympics Middle East North Africa (MENA) join host Novie Craven for another exciting episode of Inclusion Revolution Radio. Topics will include the Special Olympics Pan African Games in Egypt, sports in the MENA region, what the next 20 years may look like, and more.

Read more > Listen to the podcast (duration: 39:00) > Based on demographics alone, Pakistan is a country whose start-up ecosystem should have been thriving for quite a while. It has, for starters, the fifth largest population in the world, approaching 230 million. And that population is both overwhelmingly young, with a median age of 22, and bi-lingual, with the fourth largest number of English speakers in the world. Add to that one of the fastest-growing middle classes, more than 100 million mobile broadband subscribers, and hundreds of thousands of tech professionals, and you have all the makings of a fertile market for new enterprises and digital services. Yet until recently, venture or growth funding in Pakistan was barely a trickle compared to similar countries in the Middle East/North Africa region or in other parts of Asia. In the last couple of years, however, Pakistan has begun to live up to its entrepreneurial potential. To gain a valuable understanding of the changing dynamics of this emerging start-up market, including continuing challenges and growing opportunities, we spoke to two experts based in the region: Aatif Awan is the founder and managing partner of Indus Valley Capital, a Pakistan-focused early stage venture fund, and Abdur-Rahim Syed is a McKinsey partner based in Dubai who co-leads the firm's start-up work in the region.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Based on demographics alone, Pakistan is a country whose start-up ecosystem should have been thriving for quite a while. It has, for starters, the fifth largest population in the world, approaching 230 million. And that population is both overwhelmingly young, with a median age of 22, and bi-lingual, with the fourth largest number of English speakers in the world. Add to that one of the fastest-growing middle classes, more than 100 million mobile broadband subscribers, and hundreds of thousands of tech professionals, and you have all the makings of a fertile market for new enterprises and digital services. Yet until recently, venture or growth funding in Pakistan was barely a trickle compared to similar countries in the Middle East/North Africa region or in other parts of Asia. In the last couple of years, however, Pakistan has begun to live up to its entrepreneurial potential. To gain a valuable understanding of the changing dynamics of this emerging start-up market, including continuing challenges and growing opportunities, we spoke to two experts based in the region: Aatif Awan is the founder and managing partner of Indus Valley Capital, a Pakistan-focused early stage venture fund, and Abdur-Rahim Syed is a McKinsey partner based in Dubai who co-leads the firm's start-up work in the region. Read more > Listen to the podcast (duration: 39:00) >

The conflict in Ukraine has turned into a massive humanitarian crisis. Co-host Michelle Dover is joined by Negar Tayyar, co-founder and director of Global Whole Being Fund, a global grant making body dedicated to supporting people on the move. She discusses the international response to the crisis and how listeners can help. On Early Warning, co-host Tom Collina is joined by Dr. Sanam Vakil, Deputy Director of the Middle East - North Africa program at Chatham House. She discusses the newest hiccup to re-sealing the Iran Deal — Russia's demand that Western sanctions will not harm Moscow's trade with Iran.

Welcome to the China-MENA Podcast. This show is produced by Atlantic Council thanks to generous support from the US State Department. The China-MENA Podcast is a monthly program that goes beyond the headlines to provide a deeper look at engagement between China and countries in the Middle East – North Africa and give our listeners a better understanding of an important emerging geopolitical shift.

Article For This Podcast: https://atlasgeographica.com/ghaidaa-hetou/Ghaidaa Hetou Ph.D. is the founder of iStrategic. Dr. Hetou guides the development and oversees the operational efficiency of iStrategic. She is a consultant and advisor on Middle East and North Africa affairs, specializing in political risk analysis, foreign policy, political economy, geopolitics, and business strategies. Dr. Hetou also writes a weekly Op-Ed in Forbes Middle East.I was fascinated by the depth of her insights and could have spoken with her for hours on this topic. For me the most exciting moment of the podcast comes towards the end with the discussion of China's Belt & Road Initiative. Jump In On My Newsletter

Kyra Jasper sits down with Dr. Becca Farnum from Syracuse University London to discuss Environmental Racism, Justice, and Peacebuilding in the United States and the Middle East/North Africa.Show Notes“Climates of Resistance” Community Audit Course Website: https://sites.google.com/view/climates-of-resistance/aboutBecca's Personal Website: http://www.rebeccalfarnum.com/ EcoPeace: https://ecopeaceme.org/ Environmental Voluntary Foundation/Kuwait Dive Team: book about them available here: http://www.rebeccalfarnum.com/books/ Media Association for Peace (Lebanon): http://maplebanon.org/ Garbage Crisis in Lebanon: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/09/lebanon-huge-cost-inaction-trash-crisis Beirut bombing environmental dangers: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/22/lebanon-flawed-domestic-blast-investigation Dar Si Hamad: http://darsihmad.org/ Vodka Fog Farm in Bay Area: https://hangarone.com/fogpoint-vodka/ Becca's forthcoming book: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/spaces-and-practices-of-justice The views reflected in this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of the Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice. Pamgaea by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4193-pamgaeaLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.