Education is a source of national pride in Lebanon. When the general public was asked how the education system was performing, 76 percent of respondents had a positive opinion; and these satisfaction rates have been consistently high over the years. However, perception of education quality does not reflect the reality of the sector; and learning outcomes, which are the determining metrics of success in education, have been lower than the international average, with a declining trend since 2007. This volume seeks to uncover why the education system in Lebanon is not reaching its full potential. It uses a political economy approach to study the drivers and factors that guide education operations to produce and utilize education outcomes. This includes the study of context, stakeholders, and processes that shape education policies, institutions, and activities. It also aims to identify enablers of and constraints on policy change and implementation, as well as the achievement of results. In this context, the analysis encompasses how education policies are developed; how education consumables—such as curricula, textbooks, and learning materials—are produced, distributed, and used by learners; how education services are delivered and monitored; and how achieved results are measured. It includes the identification of the most influential actors in the education arena, as well as their vested interests. It also examines unfavorable frameworks for action that are likely to block the adoption of reforms and delay or derail their implementation. The system-level analysis presented in this volume used a mixed-method approach. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted based on a review and analysis of more than 1,900 research papers, articles, and books; laws and policies; expenditures; trends; and enrollment and outcome indicators. Primary methods of inquiry were also used and included interviews, focus group discussions, and a household-based perception survey.

With the exception of Sri Lanka, South Asian countries have not achieved quality basic education – an essential measure for escaping poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. In The Political Economy of Education in South Asia, John Richards, Manzoor Ahmed, and Shahidul Islam emphasize the importance of a dynamic system for education policy. The Political Economy of Education in South Asia documents the weak core competency (reading and math) outcomes in government primary schools in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, and the consequent rapid growth of non-government schools over the last two decades. It compares the training, hiring, and management of teachers in South Asian schools to successful national systems ranging from Singapore to Finland. Discussing reform options, it makes the case public good and public priorities are better served when both public and non-government providers come under a strong public policy and accountability framework. The Political Economy of Education in South Asia draws on the authors' broad engagement in education research and practice in South Asia, as well as analysis by prominent professors of education and NGO leaders, to place basic education in a broad context and make the case that universal literacy and numeracy are necessary foundations for economic growth.

This book is about the laissez-faire strategy for economic development, a strategy inspired by neoclassical/mainstream economics, advocated by the “Washington Consensus”, and implemented by the Bretton Woods institutions. Mainstream economics has taken legitimacy from the historical failure of command economies. But this view has not been balanced by an examination of the performance of laissez-faire economies, the closest to the pure market model. Lebanon provides a unique test case in this regard. The book assesses Lebanon’s development during 1948-2002, including its industrial and financial performance. The dynamics of the laissez-faire system is separately studied from a Post-Keynesian perspective, highlighting institutional behavior. It is found that laissez-faire is not a sufficient condition for economic development, and can even be counterproductive.

Education systems and textbooks in selected countries of the Middle East are increasingly the subject of debate. This volume presents and analyzes the major trends as well as the scope and the limits of education reform initiatives undertaken in recent years. In curricula and teaching materials, representations of the "Self" and the "Other" offer insights into the contemporary dynamics of identity politics. By building on a network of scholars working in various countries in the Middle East itself, this book aims to contribute to the evolution of a field of comparative education studies in this region.

The failure of reform policies in areas of critical importance to Arab populations such as health and education played a central role in igniting the Arab Awakening, yet this policy perspective has been largely absent from recent studies of the region. Arab regimes most reliant on repression to guarantee their survival were also those most vulnerable to mass politics. Where threats to regime survival have been limited, so have more meaningful reforms been possible, finding an alternative to political change through focusing on "soft policy" areas such as education. A Political Economy of Arab Education offers a comprehensive analysis of K-12 education systems in Arab countries, deepening understanding of their administrative structures and outcomes, and exploring how political considerations have impacted the ability of Arab regimes to engage in meaningful reform. Taking a unique comparative political economy perspective, it examines the reasons behind policy stagnation in Arab countries, addressing the effects of size, history and political stability on the design and implementation of policies and administrative structures. Its informed analysis and comparison of education systems provides new insight into Arab regimes and highlights factors pulling them towards either stagnation or reform. Examining the sustainability of reforms and establishing the benefits of engaging in meaningful change, this book sheds light on why some regimes survived the Arab Spring while others crumbled and formulates convincing predictions on the potential for future regime change in the region. This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of Middle Eastern Studies, International and Comparative Education and Development Studies.

This book sheds light on diverse aspects of a country thus far renowned for its various forms of instability and turmoil by portraying it from very different angles. It begins by underscoring how the instructors' emotional intelligence is paramount for maintaining student satisfaction and retention in a market as competitive as that of Lebanon. It then recognizes the impact of social pressure on e-Book adoption in Lebanon and investigates the challenges and opportunities of attaining such goals through the instigation of e-government technology in a developing country. It then delves into female entrepreneurial motivations by inspecting the influence of age, which is a neglected facet of entrepreneurship research. Its main motivation is the salience of underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurial ranks even in the most developed markets, although the number of female entrepreneurs in Lebanon is surprising. After that, it points to two approaches for examining leadership, the first focusing on the leader as an individual while contemplating the qualities and capabilities of leaders, whereas the other contests that an individual leader initiates a general understanding of leadership by assuming that leadership is the technique used by this individual and not his/her position. Always retaining the HR spirit, this book studies the connection between investment in talent retention practices in Lebanese organizations and the line managers' accountability of affective commitment. The interest mainly lies in the fact that Lebanon symbolizes an interesting economic and cultural context from which talent has been depleted, resulting in a greater need to instigate talent retention practices to preserve and retain this talent. It then moves to exploring the impact of coaching on employee commitment and learning, and afterwards evaluates its influence on performance in the Lebanese banking sector. One way of improving performance among firms is to actively utilize their tacit knowledge capital. So, it critically examines tacit knowledge and effectuation to reveal if the interaction can lead to favorable outcomes in a firm's innovative capability. Another way to gain a competitive advantage is for organizations to care for their customers by educating them to secure adequate decision making, thus leading to the study of the impact of consumer education on financial consumer protection, as well as looking into the controversial relationship between corporate reputation and customer satisfaction, and the mediating role of perceived service quality. It then identifies the effect of a business model design on customer satisfaction, which singles out corporate performance in the high-tech channel innovation framework, and proves the effect of information systems by helping healthcare employees while performing their daily tasks, especially after the increase of their work load with the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon. It then concludes by investigating the trends and indicators related to national output, inflation, unemployment, national debt, exchange rates, balance of payments, poverty and human development. In sum, this book proves that Lebanon is moving away from the stereotypical image it once had and towards a country much like the one that Lebanese people have been dreaming of restoring.