MER Article International Finance and the Third World The foreign debt of the less developed countries (LDCs) of the Third World now stands at around $600 billion. More than half of this—about $350 billion—is owed to private international banks. Events like the strikes and demonstrations in Brazil this summer, or the labor unrest that triggered the mil Jeff Frieden • 20 min read
MER Article Israeli Economy Struggles for Appearance of Solvency In a year when much of the world endured a protracted economic crisis, and Israel itself was politically torn by the invasion of Lebanon, that country&rsquos economy appeared deceptively unruffled. True, inflation rebounded to a near-record level of 131.5 percent, [1] but most of the country’s citiz Joe Stork • 7 min read
MER Article Bazaar and Mosque in Iran's Revolution Ahmad Ashraf is a sociologist who studied and later taught at Tehran University and the New School in New York City. Ashraf is the author of “Historical Obstacles to the Development of the Bourgeoisie in Iran,” Iranian Studies 2/1-2 (Spring and Summer 1969). Ervand Abrahamian spoke with him in New Y (Author not identified) • 9 min read
MER Article The Reconstruction Crusade and Class Conflict in Iran The Islamic Republic’s revolutionary credentials are, apart from foreign policy, largely based on the activities of the so-called revolutionary organizations created shortly after the February 1979 uprising. Operating through these popular organizations, the regime signaled a new beginning for milli Emad Ferdows • 17 min read
MER Article The Arab Economies in the 1970s The 1970s were undoubtedly the most dramatic and important years in recent Middle Eastern history. The decade began politically with the death of Nasser, the formal withdrawal of the British from the Gulf and the first sharp increase in the price of oil. Oil -- its production and marketing, its reve Roger Owen • 27 min read
MER Article Capitalism in Rural Iran Parvin Ghorayshi: Fred Halliday has suggested in the chapter on agricultural development in the first edition of his book, Iran: Dictatorship and Development, that the Iranian state successfully imposed capitalist relations on the rural areas by means of a land reform. While I agree that rural Iran Fred Halliday, Parvin Ghorayshi • 12 min read
MER Article Economic Sanctions and Iranian Trade Former President Jimmy Carter’s announcement of economic sanctions against Iran on April 7, 1980 aroused little enthusiasm except in Tehran, where crowds roared their approval of a formal break in ties with the “great Satan.” At home, hadn’t the freeze of Iranian assets, the longshoremen’s refusal t Philip Shehadi • 4 min read
MER Article Iran's Economy Workers, bazaar merchants and artisans, farmers, salaried officials and professionals -- all expected that the departure of the Shah would mean better economic conditions for themselves and the Iranian people. At the very least, funds that had been diverted into corruption or used to purchase expens Patrick Clawson • 13 min read
MER Article Tuma and Darin-Drabkin, The Economic Case for Palestine Elias H. Tuma and Haim Darin-Drabkin, The Economic Case for Palestine (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1978). This book does not seem destined to become a classic in the literature concerning a future Palestinian state. Its intent is both polemical and practical but because of its narrow economic sco Randee Brenner • 2 min read
