This handbook addresses the historical background of the Islamic world and reviews its basic past intellectual achievements. It studies social progress of these regions and sub-regions in comparison with other parts of the world. It uses large data sets and well established statistically weighted Indexes in order to assess the nature and pace of the multiple facets of social change in member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The handbook extensively discusses the main challenges confronting the Islamic nations in the social, economic, political, and ideological fields. Though it is recognizable that social change in the Islamic World is generally positive, it remains highly variable in pace and there is room to speed it up to the benefit of millions of deprived Muslim people. Hence, the book studies the different propositions and programs of action, such as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Campaign and the OIC’s Ten-Year Programme of Action to present an integrated and comprehensive agenda of action to help improve the situation in the Islamic World.

This book aims to explore and analyse Islamic Moral Economy (IME) as an alternative economic and social system to capitalism and socialism. It proposes a new model of Islamic development, integrating global development within an Islamic framework of spiritual development. It is argued that the failure of Muslim countries to provide basic necessities and an environment free of oppression and injustice can be overcome with this authentic Islamic development framework. In addition, this book can be an important study to identify the theological, political, social and economic boundaries for changing the society to produce IME oriented developmentalism.

Although Islamic finance is one of the fastest growing segments of emerging global financial markets, its concepts are not fully exploited especially in the areas of economic development, inclusion, access to finance, and public policy. This volume is to improve understanding of the perspective of Islamic finance on economic development, social and economic justice, human welfare, and economic growth.

Analyzes Muslim countries' contemporary problems, particularly violence, authoritarianism, and underdevelopment, comparing their historical levels of development with Western Europe.

“A superb new understanding of the dynamic economy as a learning society, one that goes well beyond the usual treatment of education, training, and R&D.”—Robert Kuttner, author of The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy Since its publication Creating a Learning Society has served as an effective tool for those who advocate government policies to advance science and technology. It shows persuasively how enormous increases in our standard of living have been the result of learning how to learn, and it explains how advanced and developing countries alike can model a new learning economy on this example. Creating a Learning Society: Reader’s Edition uses accessible language to focus on the work’s central message and policy prescriptions. As the book makes clear, creating a learning society requires good governmental policy in trade, industry, intellectual property, and other important areas. The text’s central thesis—that every policy affects learning—is critical for governments unaware of the innovative ways they can propel their economies forward. “Profound and dazzling. In their new book, Joseph E. Stiglitz and Bruce C. Greenwald study the human wish to learn and our ability to learn and so uncover the processes that relate the institutions we devise and the accompanying processes that drive the production, dissemination, and use of knowledge . . . This is social science at its best.”—Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge “An impressive tour de force, from the theory of the firm all the way to long-term development, guided by the focus on knowledge and learning . . . This is an ambitious book with far-reaching policy implications.”—Giovanni Dosi, director, Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna “[A] sweeping work of macroeconomic theory.”—Harvard Business Review

Senior scholars of Islamic studies and the anthropology of Islam gather in this volume to pay tribute to one of the giants of the field, Dale F. Eickelman.

This volume looks at positive psychology from a culturally-responsive, empirically-driven perspective to avoid a descent into pseudoscience. Through evidence-based, regionally relevant topics in the field of well-being, this volume shows how increasing levels of excellence in the GCC region enhance upon business, education, research, and social innovations. Grounded in the empirical research literature, each chapter applies psychological concepts to locally relevant considerations, such as culture, religion, and socio-political contexts, making this book an essential tool for understanding positive psychology and well-being in the GCC nations and beyond.