Yossef Ben-Meir

October 17 marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The commemoration of this day suggests that the way to end poverty is not a matter shrouded in mystery. In fact, its celebration denotes that, […]

A world created is one that begins with a path taken by an individual who gives time, energy, thought and care without personal material return, to people seeking a genuine change. The volunteer-of-oneself may […]

Just as in 2008 when Barack Obama verbalized with a yell of “enough” what was echoing in the hearts of millions of Americans as the nation was engaged in two raging wars and caught in a free-falling econo […]

The durability of national governments in the Middle East and North Africa is now determined by the extent to which leaders can expeditiously and effectively address the primary cause of the Arab Spring: shameful […]

The Egyptian people must still yet overturn an overbearing force that has marginalized them for generations: top-down government control of budgets and local development. Egypt’s central government ad […]

The fatal terrorist bombing of a tourist cafe in Marrakech that took the lives of 16 people makes it more urgent for Morocco to implement its vision, which is a new social contract. In a rapidly transforming […]

With socio-revolutionary movements in North Africa and the Middle East and governments in the region seeking to identify and implement viable models for political reform and development, Morocco is fortunate to […]

The Kingdom of Morocco is planning to regionalize, or transfer responsibilities and capacities (administrative, financial, and skills) from the capital of Rabat to sub-national levels. In regionalized (or […]

In a speech on Nov. 6, 2009, King Mohammed VI of Morocco stated his intention to press ahead with decentralizing the kingdom, and that the “Saharan provinces” will be among the first regions to exper […]

Depending on how and for what international aid is administered in Pakistan, the hearts and minds of its people, and which of the opposing forces they collaborate with, hang in the balance. Recent polls indicate […]

What development projects deliver short-term relief to people and long-term economic structural change for sustained growth and should therefore be part of the upcoming economic stimulus package? The answer: […]

Considering the economic and political challenges facing the United States and the world today, and given the lessons learned in foreign assistance since it began after World War II with the Marshall Plan, now […]

In recent days, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and this year’s Nobel Prize winner in economics Paul Krugman expressed support for a fiscal stimulus package in the face of the economic crisis. The Un […]

The denigration of ‘community organizing’ by Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani at the Republican Convention could become a setback for their […]

At the Republican National Convention, Rudolph Guiliani and then vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin disregarded and seemed to mock Barack Obama’s background as a community organizer. Guiliani, a former Re […]