S. exports, but only reduced them, to increase imports from Mexico, to stimulate the opening of manufacturing plants in Mexico and to lead to the loss of jobs for the American population Ultimately then, the free market is a beneficial theoretical model, but its practical implementation has only proven profitable for the corporations in the highly developed western economies.

3. Are impediments to economic and financial reconstruction worse in a particular region of the developing world?

The tumultuous world history has impregnated its effects upon all players. And these effects are multiple and depend on various other features. On the other hand, they can be used to explain the contemporaneous stages of economic development presented by each state. While some countries enjoy the benefits of high levels of economic growth and development, others still strive to make do. And the differences are not only obvious among the groups of developed, developing and less developed countries, but also within the groups themselves. Particularly applied to the posed question, the group of developing countries is not entirely homogenous within. This can be explained through the challenges each country encounters in reaching the desired levels of economic development. Otherwise put, the impediments to economic and financial reconstruction do exist and vary from one nation to the other, resulting then in varying levels of achievements within the developing regions of the globe.

The challenges in achieving economic and financial growth within the developing societies are multiple and are revealed at varying degrees. Some of the most relevant such impediments refer to military conflicts, ethnic disputes, political stability, poverty levels or scarcity (or abundance, such as the oil in the Middle East or diamonds in Africa) of natural resources (Collier, 2003).

4. Is economic development compatible with democratization in the Greater Middle East?

As the authors of Democracy: Rising Tide...

This is yet to be achieved in the Middle East. Democracy is often understood not only in political and economic terms, but also in relationship to the human regulations. In the case of the Middle East, the breaking of the international human rights has often generated criticism, proving once again the lack of a proper democracy in the region, keeping this in mind then, it results that the reduced levels of democracy in the Middle East are also responsible for the low levels of economic growth and development.
Taking one step further, the answer to the posed question is a simple and clear yes, in the meaning that the economic development in the Middle East is compatible with the levels of democratization in the region. Otherwise put, the lack of properly understood and implemented democracy materializes in reduced levels of economic development, revealing then the direct relationship between the two forces.

The authors of the article seem to agree on the major role played by democracy in the history and economic development of a country or a global region. They also reveal that despite the long lasting history of the Middle East, the region still has "plenty of history ahead of itself yet" (Ottaway, Schwedler, Telhami and Ibrahim, 2005). In this order of ideas, they recognize the changes and the developments that have affected the Middle East, but argue that a full democracy and a proper economic development has yet to be reached.

References

Collier, P., the Market for Civil War, Foreign Policy, 2003

Huntington, S.P., the Clash of Civilizations, Foreign Affairs, 1993

Llosa, M.V., the Culture of Liberty, Globalization at Work, 2001

Ottaway, M.S., Schwedler, J., Telhami, S., Ibrahim, S.E., Democracy: Rising Tide or Mirage? Middle East Policy, Vol. XII, No. 2, 2005

Stephan, a., the Americanization of Europe: Culture, Diplomacy and Anti-Americanism After 1945, Berghahn Books, 2006