An overview of Jordan’s governance and politics, with an overview of its different branches of government and political actors.

Two decades on, the system and its leadership seem incapable of resolving these fundamental issues. Opposition parties are allowed to compete in elections, but they are unable to gain significant power on account of the way the system functions and the fact that the military and security establishment still decides important issues.

Critics of Vanunu’s treatment claim that he is being held indefinitely so that Israel can avoid political embarrassment and financial complications with the United States (US). If Israel admits to having weapons of mass destruction, it would not be eligible for a $2 billion aid package from the US.

Omar Barghouti was greatly inspired by Nelson Mandela’s approach to mobilizing the nations of the world against the apartheid regime in South Africa. This approach was introduced in Palestine after the failure of the Camp David II peace negotiations in July 2000 and the outbreak of the second intifada (uprising) in September 2000 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, followed by a major Israeli military operation in the West Bank in 2002.

The UAE used its oil revenues (discovered in the early 1960s) and a growing network of commercial and financial ties to attract global investment, skilled expatriate professionals, and migrant workers to achieve phenomenal economic development in a record short time.

His first official position after the 2011 fall of autocrat Muammar Qaddafi was as the minister of housing and utilities at the General National Congress (GNC). The GNC was dissolved two years later and replaced by the internationally recognized House of Representatives (HoR), following parliamentary elections on 25 June 2014. Al-Sarraj was elected to the HoR, which was established in the eastern city of Tobruk after the military arm of the Islamist-dominated new General National Congress seized Tripoli and established a rival administration.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 was $43 billion, compared with $47.6 billion in 2014 and $46.2 billion in 2013. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that GDP in 2017 will grow by 2.8 per cent, compared with 1.5 per cent in 2016 and 0.8 per cent in 2015. GDP per capita in 2015 was $3,923. Inflation in 2017 is expected to be 3.9 per cent, compared with 3.7 per cent in 2016 and 4.9 per cent in 2015.

The World Bank has classified Syria’s economy as having a lower middle income level within the region Middle East & North Africa. Syria’s economy is essentially state-run, although it has remained partly private, as for example the retail trade businesses.

Sudan is a poor country, despite its potential resources. Sudan’s economy is basically agricultural, with inadequate infrastructure and ridden by civil wars and social and ethnic conflict. The government is attempting to develop non-petroleum sources of revenues, such as gold mining, while carrying out an austerity programme to reduce expenditures.

Quarterly data show that the economy has successfully adapted to the shock, with the growth rate rising to 3.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to an average of 1 per cent in the previous three quarters.