Robert Springborg of the Naval Postgraduate School talks about his latest book, Political Economies of the Middle East and North Africa, with Marc Lynch on this week's podcast. In the book, he discusses the economic future of the [MENA] region by examining the national and regional political causes of its contemporary underperformance.  (Starts at 37:19). May Darwich of the University of Birmingham, Waleed Hazbun of University of Alabama, Adham Saouli of University of St. Andrews, and Karim Makdisi of the American University of Beirut speak about their new collection of essays entitled, "The Politics of Teaching International Relations in the Arab World: Reading Walt in Beirut, Wendt in Doha, and Abul-Fadl in Cairo," published in International Studies Perspectives. The collection also includes pieces by Morten Valbjorn of Aarhus University, Bassel Salloukh of the Lebanese American University, Amira Abu Samra of Cairo University, Said Saddiki of University of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, and Hamad Albloshi of Kuwait University. (Starts at 0:55).

Music for this season's podcast was created by Feras Arrabi. You can find more of his work on his Facebook and Instagram page.