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The purpose of this study is to examine the delocalization trend of the EU's clothing production to Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) and North Africa, focusing on the geographical shift of outsourced clothing production pattern within the two developing regions.

In total, 14 CEECs and North African countries were selected and classified into 1st‐tier and 2nd‐tier regions according to their GDP/capita values. Clothing trade statistics were obtained from the Eurostat database, and the clothing trade pattern was examined during 1995 to 2004. Trade Specialization Coefficient (TSC) was employed to measure the international competitiveness of clothing exports of the selected CEECs and North African countries.

Results concluded that the EU's clothing production had significantly delocalized to the proximate CEECs and North African regions, with further geographical shift to less‐developing 2nd‐tier clothing supplying countries in recent years. The TSC analysis reflected that the competitiveness of clothing industry in 2nd‐tiers had outperformed the 1st‐tier economies, indicating Western European firms had shifted their sourcing practices to those lower‐waged countries.

This study gives insight into the EU clothing production industry and their delocalized pattern to the CEECs and North Africa.

Capital market development has been identified as one of the critical underpinnings of economic growth, in the developed but more essentially in the developing economies. Evidence abounds on the virtues of adequately spanned capital markets to provide requisite capital needed to fund investment activities as well as infrastructural developments. Although, foreign capital may be sourced to supplement inadequate local capital base, the associated costs (both logistics and supervisory) are generally daring to consider as convenient alternatives. Various studies have examined the role of local financial market development on economic growth, but none have strictly generated a combined focus on the three major African groupings – the Southern, the Western and the Northern African regions. In addition, there is no documented study that has compared the economic performance of each of these three major economic groupings in Africa. The purpose of this paper is to fill these voids.

Various econometric techniques that include descriptive statistics, unit root tests, dynamic panel estimations and Granger causality tests.

Using data generated from the African development indicators between 1980 and 2012 in contemporary econometric estimations, this study finds that local financial markets play crucial roles in economic development of each of these groupings, albeit in varying magnitude. The study also observes that local financial market plays very little role in the overall economic development of the three groupings when interacted.

A limited dataset, which reduces the time span as well as the number of countries covered in the study. A wider coverage may have altered the result generated, especially for the pooled estimation.

That African countries should develop local financial markets in order to improve their level of economic growth.

Low rate of economic development has created a lot of social stress in Africa. Further, the fact that African leaders have largely not been able to grow their national economies in a meaningful and sustainable manner further unnerves skittish entrepreneurial underdevelopment on the continent, thereby exacerbates incidence and prevalence of poverty, and consequent social uprisings on a number of occasions.

This study finds that financial market plays an important role on economic growth, whereas the effects are lower in the Southern African region. More specifically, the effects of financial market development on economic growth are stronger in North and West Africa than in Southern African regions. Given that Southern Africa financial market is more developed than the other two regions, this finding buttresses the fact that financial market development is significantly more important as a growth-driver in less developed financial markets than in developed ones.

The purpose of the paper is to provide estimation results for feasibility of renewable energy source (RES) deployment in Turkey, the Western Balkans and North Africa. From these results, the potential for cooperation in renewables production between the countries and the European Union (EU) is assessed and evaluated, in a mid- (2030) and long-term (up to 2040) perspective.

The authors focus on the quantitative assessments undertaken on the extent to which RES cooperation can create mutual benefits, identifying costs and benefits for both sides, but in particular with respect to RES target achievement (2020 and 2030) at EU level. The potentials for RES generation in Turkey, North Africa and the Western Balkans are calculated under different policy pathways, taking into account different levels of economic and non-economic barriers that could occur.

Overall, the authors found that increasing RES deployment in the three analysed regions and initiating or intensifying cooperation with EU28 Member States leads to mutual benefits. Concretely, these benefits become apparent in terms of the EU Member States importing renewable energy sources for electricity with a good resource quality and adding on to their targets for RES deployment. At the same time, substantial savings occur for the EU, in turn leading to income and investments in the cooperating regions.

The assessment underlying this paper is the first of its kind to the authors’ knowledge that opens up the geographical spread in comparison to merely assessing cooperation between Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. Furthermore, the multitude of policy parameters analysed provides detailed and robust insights concerning a broad variety of different possible scenarios.

Energy consumption in transportation accounted for over 29% of total final consumption (TFC) of energy and 65% of global oil usage, and it is highly connected to mobility. Mobility is essential for access to day-to-day activities such as education, leisure, healthcare, business activities, and commercial and industrial operations. This study examines the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. This study relied on previous publications of government, reports and articles related to the subject matter. Vehicle ownership is fast increasing, particularly in cities. Still, it begins at a relatively low level because the area is home to countries with the lowest ownership rates worldwide. In its current state, the energy sector faces significant challenges such as inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, dealing with increasing traffic congestion in cities, large-scale imports of used vehicles with poor emission standards that affect air quality in cities, a lack of safe and formally operated public transportation systems, and inadequate consideration for women and disabled mobility needs. Motorcycle and tricycle are dominating the rural areas, accounting for a substantial amount of this growth. Aviation is the largest non-road user of energy, and this trend is predicted to continue through 2040 as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows and urbanisation expands. This study revealed the energy consumption for the transport industry, and the level of renewable energy development in some selected SSA. Rail and navigation lag behind current global levels. The usage of biofuel and rail transport was recommended.

Following the issuance of the Renewable Energy Directive in 2009, the European Union (EU) is explicitly pushing for member states to cooperate with third countries to meet their EU 2020 targets. So far, no single joint project is planned or in place yet. This paper aims to look at the opportunities for and barriers to possible RE exports from North Africa into the EU through the concept of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.

Thus, the SWOT for a possible implementation of Article 9 projects are analyzed using expert and stakeholder knowledge. A qualitative assessment was undertaken using data collected through one stakeholder workshop in North Africa, in-depth interviews and a qualitative literature review. The analysis was structured within a three-tier analyzing concept distinguishing between macro, micro and acceptance parameters.

From the SWOT analysis, some lessons are drawn, future possible measures are identified and conclusions for policymakers are discussed. The authors find that no easy solutions exist as most parameters can be both a strength and a weakness or a threat and an opportunity at the same time depending on future developments and the specific ideological perspective.

This paper provides new information and analysis of renewable energy sources projects in North Africa – application of the SWOT method on Article 9 cooperation projects – application of a three-tier analysis to cope with the complexity of the topic – taking into account often neglected socio-political aspects such as public acceptance.

This chapter offers a survey of education development in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), and how the different crises have changed the global dynamics in education. This chapter first gives an overview of the regional context and the history of education in the region, followed by a discussion of the education developments in the region as shaped by the economic growth of high-income countries and the political upheavals in low-income countries. MENA states have made huge investments in their educational systems through implementing major changes in the education policies and introducing initiatives to improve the quality of education in their countries. However, the educational system in the region has not reaped the benefits of these reforms as it has not met the desired goals. The quality of students’ learning is very low as reflected in the poor rating by international assessments such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS. Structural educational reforms to foster citizenship and civic responsibility are urgently needed. Good governance of the education systems of the MENA countries, a critical thinking skills-based curriculum and strong market-oriented skills and vocational training programs are necessary for MENA to become economically competitive and reliably democratic.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework to contextualise the formation and transformation of three major medinas in North Africa, namely, Tripoli, Tunis and Fez. The framework is designed to identify key factors that formed these medinas in the first place, and key causes of transformation in reference to three distinctive forces: colonisation, modernisation and globalisation, which include political, economic and social changes that influenced the transformation process.

Colonisation, modernisation and globalisation changed the physical appearance and urban fabric, introduced new architectural styles and at the same time changed the social structure, lifestyle, and the inhabitants’ perception and use of spaces within their medinas. Physical aspects of the transformation process are investigated using comparative case studies, while social aspects are studied through interviewing three main actors in housing: users, decision makers and professional architects.

By identifying key factors of formation and main drivers of transformation, together with analysing the physical and social aspects associated with the transformation process, the framework aims at developing a holistic, complex picture of housing transformation within a specific context: the medinas of North Africa. However, the framework is introduced as a valuable tool for exploring the transformation of other cities with relevant and similar context.

Through the use of comparative case studies and interviews, the study focuses on capturing the essence of traditional medinas, understanding the reality of social change within housing transformation and contextualising the physical aspects of housing transformation.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the state of undergraduate business statistics education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and assess its alignment with the best practices in equipping business graduates with the knowledge and skills demanded by the labor market.

A survey of 108 instructors from 80 business schools in 17 MENA countries was conducted to gauge information on the delivery of business statistics courses. The survey results were benchmarked to a proposed framework for best practices in business statistics education.

The gap analysis identified deficiencies in the delivery of business statistics education in the region as compared to international best practices. This study revealed a need to revise statistics education as part of a comprehensive reform of business education with the aim to meet international quality standards in business education.

The study relied on the self-reported responses of business statistics instructors in MENA. One hundred eight questionnaires were completed, corresponding to a response rate of 40 per cent. Moreover, the study did not measure the effectiveness of teaching and learning in business statistics courses.

Recommendations from the study are intended to guide business statistics instructors in improving the quality of business statistics education through adopting more effective ways to enhance student learning experience and graduate employability.

This study is the first of its kind to investigate and assess the business statistics education in the MENA region.