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Middle East Governance in the Post Pandemic Era

It is written in history that the year 2020, the year of the coronavirus pandemic, was one of the most difficult years in human’s history, after the black plague in the Middle Ages and world wars in the 20th century. Over the past millennium, the human genius challenged several global crises and turned them into opportunities. This pandemic is not different. Several positive changes on various aspects of life are already being generated out of humans’ attempts to survive the fatal microscopic virus. This article lists only a few ways, in which the COVID-19 crisis positively changed the long-standing dynamics of political power, governance and socio-political interactions in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
To limit the spread of the Coronavirus, each country had to close its borders and isolate itself from the rest of the world, while domestically forcing a curfew or a complete lockdown. Accordingly, every government, in every country, found itself forced to face the crisis alone in a tough battle to rescue peoples’ lives, while also preserving a stable economy and an unwavering system of governance. Ironically, the illiberal and non-democratic governments were the ones that performed better in this battle. Perhaps, because these governments have stronger control on private sector businesses and individual citizens and most of the wealth of the country is under government’s control.
However, in the process of governments combating the virus, the relationship between the citizen and the state, in MENA countries, has been redefined, in a way that may positively affect the political future of the MENA region, if not the whole world. Here is how:
First: Citizens are becoming more active in fulfilling the vacuum in government provided services, rather than complaining or government failure of just waiting for the government to reform its bureaus.
Second: Civil society organizations are becoming more engaged with grass-roots citizens on issues that are immediately relevant to improving the quality of their lives, like economic reform and health care. Before, civil society organizations, especially in Arab Spring countries, were mostly focused on political rights and civil freedoms. As a result, they were seen by governments as an upsetting groups of covert politicians, and by grass-roots citizens as the detached elite. The newly expanding role of the civil society, after the pandemic, helped change this image. At least, it put civil society organizations under a new light in the eyes of the government, which started to see them as essential partners, rather than trouble-making group of activists.
Third: The pandemic is redefining the way MENA citizens and governments are approaching the conversation on human rights. Since the Arab Spring revolutions, erupted in 2010, the focus has always been on political and civil rights as trans-national human rights issues. In contrast, economic and social rights (such as healthcare, education, and housing) have always been viewed as internal issues that each country should work to reform on its own. But, thanks to the pandemic, economic and social rights are now becoming a trans-national tans-border issue that countries can cooperate and work on together. As we have seen for example in the exchange of medical supplies and medical technology between countries, in the past few months.
Fourth: The pandemic redefined the role of the military within the civil government. It renewed the old debate on the “non-traditional role” (the political and economic role) of the armed forces, within the civil state. For long, the economic autonomy of the armed forces, in Egypt for example, has been criticized for its potential negative influence on market competition and the opportunities provided to the private sector to grow through open market economy. But, the pandemic put this argument to test. Since the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis, in Egypt, for example, the private sector hesitated to aid the government in managing the crisis. Rather, private sector leaders deliberately abused the state of panic among the people and attempted to increase their profits by practicing monopoly over basic food and medical commodities. At that moment, the armed forces and its affiliated food and medical factories intervened to provide a ‘parallel arrangement’ ready to satisfy people’s needs, and, thus, forced the private sector to cooperate.
Fifth: The Coronavirus pandemic helped with upgrading government’s capacity in terms with using information technology. The pandemic accelerated the pace of technological transformation of public services and educational institutions. In Egypt, for example, we witnessed a technological revolution in both education and judicial sectors. Also, the information technology tools were heavily used by candidates for parliamentary elections to manage their electoral campaigns and reach out to their potential voters. This indirectly participated in limiting the corrupt practices that usually take place during pre-election public gatherings to influence the voters.
The aforementioned few observations are a proof that the Coronavirus pandemic has positively changed the MENA region, and the whole world, for good, at least in governance sector and on the level of state-citizen relationship. Keeping and building on these positive transformations is our next challenge.
Dalia Ziada
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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