The College of Public Policy (CPP) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) will be leading discussions at one of the largest annual gatherings of Middle East scholars when the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) hosts its 55th annual meeting from November 29 to December 3. The virtual meeting will draw scholars from across the world to discuss the most pressing issues facing the region and the field of higher education.

Dr. Anis Ben Brik, an associate professor and founding director of the Program for Social Policy Evaluation and Research (PROSPER) at CPP, is organizing and chairing a panel discussion titled “Comparative Perspectives on the Welfare State and Social Policy in a Neoliberal Era”. 

The session will feature three papers; the first session evaluates the underlying political economy dynamics that have constrained the pension reform process in Egypt before and after the 2011 uprising. A second session discusses economic reform policies in Egypt and Costa Rica, focusing on land policy and education policies. The third session presents a comparative case study of Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey, each having built relatively generous welfare states despite significant differences in contributory factors, such as strong labor movements, communal cleavages, and intense conflict among founding elites.

Dr. Ben Brik will also be presenting a paper titled “Impact of COVID-19 on Marital Relationships and Family Policy in the MENA Region.” Drawing on his international project on the pandemic’s impact on family life across cultures that was conducted in 72 countries, Dr. Ben Brik will use data that covers responses from parents of children under 18 years of age in 20 Arab countries. Among the findings were that relationship satisfaction declined compared to retrospective reports from prior to the pandemic, falling more steeply for individuals with higher levels of depressive symptoms as well as women and parents who are least involved in their children’s lives. Dr. Ben Brik will discuss how these and other results fit into the growing but nascent literature on family relationships during COVID-19 and the implications for policy.

Commenting on the forthcoming event, Dr. Ben Brik said: “The MESA annual meeting is an opportunity for engagement between the world’s foremost experts on the Middle East, scholars with a deep, comparative understanding of the factors shaping social policy, the welfare state, and institutional change in the region. CPP’s efforts to lead interdisciplinary discussions and build collaborations at this major event paves the way for our research to influence contemporary policy debates, and also strengthen the social science discipline.”

For more on the work of the College of Public Policy, please visit cpp.hbku.edu.qa