ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the extent to which Middle Eastern regions have generated relatively high or low levels of competitiveness. Whilst many Middle Eastern regions may owe some of their competitiveness to the natural advantages of oil reserves, as is the case for some of the Russian regions examined in Chapter 9, for others their competitiveness has been achieved through other means. In general, many Middle Eastern regions are quite different from the majority of the regions covered by the WCIR. Their small size and high degree of autonomy means that many of the regions are effectively independent states. A further difference is that, for some, their governments are not necessarily regarded as democratic political economies. This is likely to influence the policies and approaches that are pursued. For example, there is a danger that governments will propose routes to competitiveness that lead to self-enrichment (Schwarz, 2008; Brach, 2009). However, there is also the potential to pursue more active and direct policies to achieve higher levels of competitiveness for the benefit of the entire population (Collier and Hoeffler, 2009), particularly through the use of sovereign wealth funds and state-owned corporations (Harris, 2009).
