Journal of Asian and African Studies

The Arab world is a region of considerable importance for world peace and the global economy. This region, however, is enduring slow development, political instability, extremism, and many ominous prospects of constant conflicts and turmoil. Pressures are mounting from within and from without for change and reform. This article reviews some of the most salient issues facing the region today and examines the opportunities for reform. Particular emphasis is on national development, governance, succession of authority, and Arab–American relations.

Sustainable development is now widely promoted as a holistic concept that aims to integrate social, economic and cultural policies to ensure high-quality growth in the context to which it is applied. During implementation such programs encounter, however, place-specific institutional and cultural barriers that often go unrecognized. This article presents findings from a 10-year collaboration of the University of Arkansas with Yarmouk University, Jordan, that led to the adoption of a heritage tourism strategy that is both economically and environmentally feasible.

Saudi Arabia has since the beginning of the 1990s, despite the autocratic character of the regime, witnessed political activities that, while not directly questioning the Islamic base of the country's identity, have called for changes in the manner in which the state is governed. The study analyses petitions to the King and other actions undertaken by the opposition demanding reforms as well as responses of the authorities, which in effect led to the broadening of the political participation of the Saudis, culminating in municipal elections in 2005. Impact of international events on the political situation inside the Kingdom, like 9/11 and the Iraqi war, is also examined.

This study examines the Kurdish historic aspiration for self-rule and the opportunities presented by the collapse of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003. In addressing these issues, the primary objectives are to identify the challenges facing the Iraqi Kurds' quest for self-rule, the problems created by the Kurdish quest for ethnicity-based federalism, and the ramifications of the impending Iraqi federalism for the future of Iraq as a country.