1. The democratic credentials of the region are indeed not very strong. What may matter more than Islam are the oil endowments in many countries of the region. Three important caveats should, however, be kept in mind. First of all, measures like Polity democracy scores are heavily biased towards process, and are not an outcome based measure of for example, governance or human development. The paucity of elections and the absence of written checks and balances will lead to a low Polity score for many countries in the region. Traditional Arab consultative practices are widely unknown or misunderstood in the West.

   Secondly, the apparent undemocratic nature of the region could be attributed more to its geo-political salience for the West. Western interests in this region may be better guaranteed by absolutist-dynastic rule, especially in the light of the potential anti-Western policies that democracy may generate.

   Thirdly, some point out that the lack of gender empowerment in the region may also hinder democratic transitions. There are many ways of measuring gender empowerment, such as women's participation in paid employment, and the proportion of female legislators. A leading study demonstrates that Islamic culture does not retard women's participation in the labour force and in politics, but once again the presence of oil lowers women's involvement in politics and work outside the home or farm. Another, more fundamental way of looking at women's empowerment is the male-female population ratio. While the MENA region may not be viewed favourably in terms of gender rights, this part of the world is not notorious for 'daughter' elimination, unlike in many parts of India or China.

2. The region has the lowest incidence of abject poverty based upon the international comparison of US $ 1 a day per person in purchasing power parity terms (PPP).Once the level of income and inequality are controlled, the MENA region has its actual poverty level significantly below what would be predicted in a statistical study.
3. Despite widespread prejudice to the contrary, the cultural values of the region may not be inimical to broad based development with equity. Gradstein, Milanovic and Ying (2001) show that across the diverse cultural/religious types of the world, the strongest built-in inequality aversion exists in Muslim majority countries. They conclude this after considering per-capita income levels and democracy scores, high levels of which both tend to reduce inequality. They attribute this intrinsic inequality aversion to cultural features favouring redistribution in both Islamic and East Asian cultures (but more strongly in the former), which they argue promotes greater equality even when there is the absence of democratic political pressures favouring redistribution as in the Judeo-Christian world.

See:
Murshed Syed Mansoob (2008) Development despite Modest Growth in the Middle East, Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, Vol. 4 , No. 3, Article 1, 2008, DOI: 10.2202/1475-
Gradstein, Mark, Branko Milanovic and Yvonne Ying (2001) 'Democracy and Income Inequality: An Empirical Analysis', World Bank Policy Research Paper 2561.

Syed Mansoob Murshed (mailto: murshed@iss.nl)