Migrants' strategies of coping and patterns of accommodation in the oil‐rich Gulf societies: evidence from the UAE

This paper presents an overview of ethnographic documentation of the foreign migrants’ strategies and patterns of accommodation in the oil‐rich Arab Gulf socieites. Documentary evidence is drawn from the UAE in the form of short case studies of families and individuals of both Arab and Asian migrant groups as well as field observations. The evidence is presented as an illustration of similar processes taking place across the Gulf. The migrants investigated represent low‐income workers and a few middle‐income technicians and professionals. Globalization is used as a general guiding theoretical framework to provide integration and coherence to the modes of presentation and explanation of the ethnographic material. Particular attention is given to the differing political economics of the labour‐receiving and labour‐sending countries in order to account for the prevalence of certain strategies of coping among migrants, and also to explain the slight variations found among Arab and Asian migrants.     

Assessment of the Service Quality Provided by the Kuwaiti Cultural Office in Cairo: An Empirical Investigation

This study is an extension of the research on the service quality of public organizations. It is concerned with evaluating the quality of the service provided by the Kuwaiti Cultural Office in Egypt as perceived by both students and staff. The gap analysis model is adopted in this study to identify the key dimensions and related components of the quality of service delivered by the Office. Additionally, the study offers evidence of a quality gap between the perceptions of the public service providers and the end beneficiaries. The findings reveal that there are obvious differences between the staff's and students' perceptions of the quality of the service provided by the Office in terms of tangibles, reliability, and responsiveness. The students indicate that the service provided has many shortcomings, related mainly to the tangible aspects of the service reliability and responsiveness. However, they feel secure in dealing with the Office, and feel the administration and employees consider their interests a top priority to the Office.     

A mixed methods study of participant reaction to domestic violence research in Jordan

Research on domestic violence against women has increased considerably over the past few decades. Most participants in such studies find the exercise worthwhile and of greater benefit than emotional cost; however, systematic examination of participant reaction to research on violence is considerably lacking, especially in the Middle East region. This study begins to fill this gap by examining women's reactions to domestic violence research in Jordan and whether a personal history of violence is associated with unfavorable experiences. This sequential exploratory mixed methods study included 17 focus group discussions (FGD) with women in Amman followed by a survey conducted in reproductive health clinics throughout the country (pilot n = 30; survey n = 517). Open coding was used to identify the theme related to participant reaction in the FGD data. This construct was further examined by the subsequent survey that included dichotomous questions inquiring whether the respondent thought the study questions were important and whether they were angry or felt resentment as a result of the survey. One open-ended question on the survey provided additional qualitative data on the theme that was combined with the FGD data. Themes identified in the qualitative data pertained to expressions of gratitude and comments on the survey's value. Findings of this study indicate that Jordanian women's responses to the research process are similar to women currently represented by the extant literature in that a vast majority of its participants felt that the study was important (95%) and it did not evoke anger or resentment (96%). Many even found the study to be useful to them personally or to society. Among those who had a negative emotional reaction, most still found the research to be important. This study's findings highlight the safety and potential benefits of ethically conducted violence research.     

Country size and trade concentration

The paper attempts to provide some evidence on the nature of the relationship between country size and commodity and geographic concentration in trade, and on the effects of economic development and dependence on trade on this relationship. It suggests that the inverse relationship between country size and trade concentration is not as strong as a priori reasoning suggests; that there is no association between export concentration and economic development, nor between export concentration and dependence on trade; and that neither the dependence on trade of small countries should lead to extra export concentration, nor their export concentration should mean an impediment to economic development.     

Country size and economic growth and development

This paper attempts to provide limited empirical evidence on the nature of the relationship between country size and rates of economic growth and levels of economic development, and on the possible effects of trade concentration and dependence on trade on this relationship. It suggests that there is no discernible association between country size and economic development, nor between country size and economic growth, and that neither the dependence on trade of small countries nor their commodity and geographic export concentration are necessarily important factors in economic growth and economic development.