"This book is complete in its context and the contribution of the author has significant importance ... . the scholars of the region will have the open opportunity and straight future direction to enhance the knowledge in this field." (Rida Ali Khan and Saqib Hussain, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 161, 2020)
Introduction.- Historical Background.- Key Drivers and Policy Issues of Human Well-Being Successes in the MENA region.- Indicators of Quality of Life and Well-Being in the MENA region: A Comparative Analysis.- Conclusion.
Professor el-Sayed el-Aswad received his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has taught at Wayne State University (USA), Tanta University (Egypt), Bahrain University and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). He achieved the CHSS-UAEU Award for excellence in scientific research publication for the 2013-2014 academic year. He served as Chairperson of the Sociology Departments at both the UAEU and Tanta University as well as the Editor-in Chief of the Journal of Horizons in Humanities and Social Sciences: An International Refereed Journal (UAEU). He has published widely in both Arabic and English and is the author of Muslim Worldviews and Everyday Lives (AltaMira Press, 2012), Religion and Folk Cosmology: Scenarios of the Visible and Invisible in Rural Egypt (Praeger Press, 2002; translated into Arabic in 2005) and The Folk House: An Anthropological Study of Folk Architecture and Traditional Culture of the Emirates Society (al-Bait al-Sha‘bi) (UAE University Press, 1996).
He has been awarded fellowships from various institutes including the Fulbright Program, the Ford Foundation, the Egyptian government, and the United Arab Emirates University. He is a member of Editorial Advisory Boards of the Digest of Middle East Studies (DOMES), Muslims in Global Societies Series, Tabsir: Insight on Islam and the Middle East, and CyberOrient (Online Journal of the Middle). He is a member of the American Anthropological Association, the Middle Eastern Studies of North America, the American Academy of Religion, and the International Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES). He has published eight books, over eighty papers in peer-reviewed and indexed journals, and over thirty book reviews.
This book addresses the challenges threatening the quality of life and well-being of people living in the MENA region. It focuses on both internal / local and external / global drivers impacting their well-being particularly in the domains of economy, health, and education. Additionally, it presents a critical analysis to help readers understand the position that the MENA countries currently occupy in the world. Lastly, it provides policy analysts and decision makers with otherwise hard to obtain data and information related to socio-economic, cultural, demographic, technological, and political factors that have influenced the quality of life there.