ABSTRACT
At the time of writing (autumn 2014) the future of the ‘Arab Spring’ still seems uncertain. Presumably ‘some kind’ of new political order will eventually emerge, hopefully even in Syria. But as Adeel Malik, Oxford scholar, and Bassam Awadallah, Secretary General of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, wrote already in December 2011: ‘The real struggle for change in the Arab world will only begin when the dust from its youth revolutions has finally settled down [… P]olicymakers in the Middle East will be faced with a tough practical challenge: how to create economic opportunities for teeming millions?’ (Malik and Awadallah 2011, 2).
