Mounir Mahmalat

Senior Researcher, The Policy Initiative

Mounir Mahmalat is a Senior Researcher at The Policy Initiative, and a consultant for the World Bank. His research agenda focuses on the political economy of reform with a regional expertise of the Middle East and North Africa.

Content by this Author

Articles
Talks

The grand waiting game: why Lebanon’s elites postpone compromise

What explains the intransigence of Lebanon’s political elites to resolve the country’s long-running financial and economic crisis? This column argues that the determinants for reaching political settlements – a succession of deals among powerful political elites on how to distribute political power and economic resources – have changed over time, making a grand waiting game the best strategy for each party.

Ministerial rotations and effective government in Lebanon

Possible solutions to Lebanon’s multiple crises are well known. But as this column explains, while the necessary technical approaches and expertise are readily available, political elites continue to face incentives to undermine state authority and appropriate institutional capacities for individual gains. New evidence indicates that rotations of ministries among political parties do not make the government any more effective.

Lebanon must learn from the Syrian disaster

Overlapping crises are threatening the political, economic and social stability of Lebanon. As this column explains, the disaster in Syria provides insights into how grievances can accumulate to a point at which single events can trigger conflict.

Recession without impact: why Lebanese elites delay reform

Fiscal policy
Political economy
October 08, 2019

The survival of Lebanon’s political elites is highly dependent on the wellbeing of the economy. Why then do they delay necessary reform to avoid crisis? This column examines the role of politically connected firms in delaying much-needed economic stabilisation policies.

The economies of the Middle East and North Africa are at a critical turning point. Global decarbonisation pressures, energy market volatility and technological transformation are increasingly challenging hydrocarbon-based growth models. This column argues that the green transition is not only an environmental necessity but also a strategic economic imperative.

Beyond job creation: how can Egypt’s gender gap in work be closed?

More than 2 million jobs are needed each year to absorb new entrants into Egypt’s labour market and raise the country’s employment rate. The job challenge is even more acute for women, whose labour force participation remains low despite recent gains in education. This column reports on the second Development Dialogue, an ERF–World Bank Group joint initiative, which brought together students, scholars, policy-makers and private sector leaders at the American University in Cairo to consider how the country’s gender gap in work can be closed.

The political economy of algorithms in the Middle East

The Middle East is entering a new political-economic era – one in which algorithms, data and artificial intelligence may become as strategically important as oil once was. Across the region, governments are investing heavily in digital infrastructure, smart governance and AI-driven economic transformation. This column outlines how AI and algorithmic governance are reshaping power, inequality and state capacity in the region.

Digitalisation, global value chains and regional integration in MENA & SSA

Participation in global value chains is vital for countries pursuing structural transformation and inclusive economic development. This column summarises new evidence on how much production processes have been globalised in Africa and the Middle East relative to other regions; whether this process has taken place with partners within or outside the region; and whether it has taken place more in manufacturing or services.

How trade policy can reduce MENA’s cereal import vulnerability

Heavy dependence on imported cereals, combined with climate change, water scarcity and geopolitical uncertainty, continues to threaten food resilience across MENA. This column explains how an inclusive trade policy can play a key role in making the region’s food security less vulnerable to shocks.

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