Following some unsuccessful attempts to establish Islamic banks in Nasser's Egypt during the 1960s, The Islamic Bank of Dubai (established 1975) was the first successful Islamic bank in the world. It was the first bank to implement the economic principles of the Shari'a, by abstaining from charging interest and by avoiding all business considered as immoral in Islam, like gambling, pornography, alcohol and pork-meat. Since then, and especially during this passing decade, Islamic banking and Shari'a Finance expanded rapidly. Many Islamic banks and other Islamic financial institutions were established all over the world and currently there are approximately 400 Islamic financial institutions with a total volume of business nearing 1 trillion dollars. Based on a variety of sources, including professional literature, newspapers, websites and internet forums, my presentation will focus on the special mechanisms used by Islamic banks, like mark-up trade financing ("Murabaha"), joint ventures based on the principle of "Profit and Loss Sharing" ("Musharaka"), venture capital funding ("Mudharaba") and leasing deals ("Ijarah"). I will also refer to other mechanisms, about which Islamic scholars are disputed, like the Islamic securities ("Sukuk") and the multi-stage deals ("Tawaruq"). The presentation will argue that Islamic banking became a global phenomenon and an important economic factor, with an expanding presence not only in the Middle East and in countries like Pakistan and Malaysia, but also in countries and regions in which the Muslim population is a minority, sometimes quite small, like Japan, Singapore, Western Europe and North America. I will argue that the advantages of Islamic banking, and especially its capability to enhance liquidity and to simplify bureaucratic procedures, convinced Western governments to encourage Islamic Banking and even to initiate legislation in its favor. My presentation will show that Islamic Banking, not only became a global phenomenon, but also raised disputes and controversies. In the Middle East we witness a fierce struggle between Islamic and conventional banking systems and in other parts of the world, like in Europe and in North America there is a growing debate about this financial system. While its opponents claim that it might strengthen radical Islam and foster financial delinquency its supporters say that Islamic Banking is not only a great and promising economic method, which is more immune to global economic disasters, but that it also serves as a genuine bridge between cultures and civilizations.

Tunisia's current economic situation traces its origins back to the political and economic crisis of the 1980s which led to a change in political leadership in Carthage as well as an economic policy shift toward radical (albeit gradual) economic liberalization. Despite very satisfactory results by International Financial Institutions (IFI)-mandated Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)-standards, Tunisia's unemployment record remains alarmingly high. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the performance of the so-called 'Solidarity Network' that was introduced by the government to help cope with unemployment and socio-economic exclusion in a manner deemed consistent with the overarching SAP agenda. A Polanyi-type analysis is developed to examine the rise of the Solidarity Network. It will be argued that, unlike Polanyi's concept of the double movement consisting of a liberalization phase followed by a natural reaction against free markets, in the case of Tunisia's experience with SAP, the Solidarity Network did not emerge naturally, but rather was pre-emptively planned and introduced by the government as a preventive measure against potential social opposition to free market policies. The paper argues that the switch to a neoliberal development strategy forced the government to create a socio-economic safety net in order to prevent a social uprising like the one experienced in the 1980s. The Solidarity Network allowed the government to hit two birds with one stone. First, it allowed the government to fight extreme poverty and social exclusion, and second, it was done through fashionable pro-market strategies that enhance entrepreneurial activities. Finally, the paper argues that despite its moderate success in achieving social and political stability, the Solidarity Network remains a weak strategy for fighting unemployment and fostering equitable economic development.

Pearls were historically the Gulf's primary export, providing the vast majority of the income for the area. There is an acknowledgment by most of those who write about this area, scholars and non-scholars alike, that the pearl trade was conducted mostly by men and boys. Aside from explaining that pearling was a male occupation, there is little discussion of gender, gender roles or the implications of these ideas upon society in the books which discuss the topic. When local authors discuss heritage and pearling they focus on the hardships and difficulties of life and the love that sailors felt for those left behind on land. In recollections of the pearl trade, men were the most conspicuous participants in pearling and historical accounts highlight their roles in the trade. Women are either absent from the narrative or reduced to objects of men's love and longing. In interviews conducted and a survey of the literature produced locally in the UAE, it is clear that the descriptions of gender roles are ideals and norms rather than fact. Although women's roles were far from the gathering or selling of pearls, the women participated in the date harvest, which was the primary food item for many on the Arab coast of the Gulf. Further, in the late pearl trade, during the second quarter of the 20th century, cracks formed in these normative gender roles and at least one woman worked along the coast as a merchant. This study is based on articles published in the magazine Turath (heritage) as well as books published locally in the UAE and interviews with those who participated in the pearl trade. Drawing on these sources, I will examine the connections between heritage and gender roles both within and on the periphery of the pearl trade in order to expand the general knowledge of gender in the late 19th and early 20th century in the emirates along the southern Gulf. The emphasis on men's role in the pearl trade is due to a bias in the sources, which has created a bias in the historiography. In order to fully understand the workings of society during this time, it is necessary to understand how both genders contributed to the overall social system and how this system became increasingly unsustainable as pearl revenues declined.

Globally, women's employment has tended to increase with the demographic transition and the accompanying social and economic modernization. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region stands out because despite falling fertility rates and significant human development, women's employment there is the lowest in the world. However, the relative role that structural forces versus women's own human capital and preferences play in this are unknown. In order to understand prospects for women's employment in the region, political, economic, and cultural structures must be disentangled. Research approaches must also distinguish between desirable employment for women and exploitative employment (e.g. as is seen in some export-oriented manufacturing jobs). This entails moving beyond Western theories of women's employment which tend to view it as universally beneficial and looking at the specific benefits and costs of particular types of employment for women in the Middle East. In order to understand prospects for women's increased employment, research must move beyond documenting trends in overall labor force participation rates; the structural and personal factors shaping individual attitudes towards women's employment should be explored. Do individual views on women's employment correspond with their low labor force representation, or do individuals in the Middle East view women's employment as desirable, but face structural obstaclesr This paper examines men's and women's attitudes towards employment across a selection of culturally, economically, and politically diverse nations in the Middle East (Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey) using the 2000 and 2005 waves of the World Values Survey. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to examine the national factors and personal socio-demographic characteristics that shape attitudes towards women's employment in the Middle East. Pertinent national factors include oil wealth, unemployment rates, women's tertiary gross enrollment, and the prevalence of individual freedoms and civil rights. Individual characteristics including age, gender, marital status, employment, education, and religiosity also shape attitudes towards women's employment.