Globalization has economic and social implications, particularly for Third World countries. The Arab countries, being part of the latter group, are subject to those likely impacts. The objective of this paper is to assess the most important economic and social implications of globalization on the Arab countries, and to suggest appropriate policies that can be applied to reduce the negative impacts, and maximize the positive ones, on those countries.

This study will focus on assessing the likely impacts of globalization on economic growth (and sectoral structure) in the Arab countries, and their vulnerability. Two aspects of the countries? vulnerability will be investigated in the study: (i) the implications of globalization on the evolution of the countries? international trade relative to their GNP; and (ii) the implications for the financial markets and their likely impact on the countries? economies. With regard to the social implications of globalization, we shall be concerned with their potential impact on employment and poverty.
From a socio-economic perspective, the Arab countries are not homogenous in many respects. There are considerable differences among them in economic size and structure, population size, income per capita, balance of payments, labour market, poverty, etc. Such differences will be reflected in the type of problems those countries may face, and in the policies they may adopt to address the challenges of globalization. Thus, to assess the likely economic and social impacts of globalization on the Arab countries, one has to get acquainted, first, with their main socio-economic features. The literature offers various definitions of the term ?globalization? which perhaps reflect different perceptions of the phenomenon. Thus, we must first define the concept of globalization, before attempting to assess its implications for the Arab countries.

The study consists of five parts following the Introduction. Part Two will include a review of different definitions and perceptions of globalization as derived from the literature. In Part Three, we shall identify the main features of the Arab countries that are relevant to our assessment. Part Four will include the assessment of the economic implications of globalization with respect to economic growth (and sectoral structure) and economic vulnerability. Part Five will comprise the assessment of the social implications of globalization regarding employment and poverty. Finally in Part Six, some policies will be suggested to enable the Arab countries to deal with globalization more effectively.