Acta Universitatis Danubius. Relationes Internationales, Vol 8, No 1 (2015)

Abstract

The term Middle East has started to be used in the nineteenth century when referring to the region that included the Ottoman Empire, the Arabian Peninsula and the Balkan area. In contemporary the Middle East cluster (according to Globe’s research) consists of: Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Turkey, although the number of countries in geographical terms that is identified with this region is much higher. From the ethnical point of view this area is characterized by a relative homogeneity predominated by Arabs, lately in some countries (Kuwait, etc.), appearing a large number of foreign immigrants attracted by the oil industry. This article will present the intercultural values that characterize it, the leadership style, as well as tracing the main macroeconomic considerations that characterize them. The research is synchronic, analysing the contemporary situation of these countries, and the analysis will be interdisciplinary exploratory, identifying elements with regional cultural specificity.