MER Article Economics of Palestinian Return Migration Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have faced a series of economic shocks since the Gulf war. Each shock alone would have been difficult to weather, but combined they have led to a considerable worsening of economic conditions. These shocks included the Gulf war, Israeli closures of the W Ward Sayre, Jennifer Olmsted • 6 min read
MER Article Dreamland: The Neoliberalism of Your Desires Neoliberalism is a triumph of the political imagination. Its achievement is double: While narrowing the window of political debate, it promises from this window a prospect without limits. On the one hand, it frames public discussion in the elliptic language of neoclassical economics. The collective Timothy Mitchell • 15 min read
MER Article Economic Restructuring in the Middle East The effect of economic restructuring on women was the focus of a two-day workshop at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies in 1998, entitled “Women and Economic Restructuring in the Middle East: Gender, Jobs and Activist Organizations.” Participants [1] agreed that restructur Eleanor Abdella Doumato • 2 min read
MER Article Controlling Capital, Disciplining States Asia’s developing economies pose challenging questions for the left’s conception of the relationship between the state and development in this era of global capitalism. Neoliberals often cite East Asian economies as proof of the validity of their laissez faire development theories because they achie Marsha Pripstein Posusney • 2 min read
MER Article Reform or Reaction? This issue of Middle East Report presents critical -- and timely -- analysis of the impact of neoliberal economic policies in the Middle East and North Africa. Authors representing a variety of disciplines and viewpoints explore the dilemmas confronting progressive forces searching for alternative p Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Karen Pfeifer, Steve Niva • 4 min read
MER Article The Contradictions of Economic Reform in Israel Half a century ago Israel was a poor new state hopelessly indebted to the outside world. Fifteen years later, it could be described as a rapidly growing developing country undergoing successful industrialization. By the early 1980s, it was an extreme case of an economically overburdened state incapa Michael Shalev • 10 min read
MER Article The End of the Counterrevolution? Over the last 50 years, a massive infusion of petrodollars enabled the new monarchies of the Gulf to engage in impressive experiments in counterrevolution. During the 1970s, King Faysal of Saudi Arabia attempted to preserve the traditional social hierarchy of his country by modernizing without indus Yahya Sadowski • 9 min read
MER Article "Nothing More to Lose" Economic liberalization is now hitting the Egyptian countryside. After decades of Nasserist regulations favoring small land tenants, a new law will “reform” the relationship between landowners and tenants in favor of the first. It will more fully integrate the Egyptian countryside into the global ma Karim El-Gawhary • 6 min read
MER Article Private Capital and the State in Contemporary Syria Throughout the late 1980s, Syria’s economy suffered persistent difficulties. Shortages of imported machinery and spare parts led to underproduction and quality control breakdowns in the country’s larger factories. External indebtedness rose to some $4.9 billion by 1988; payments on foreign loans fel Fred H. Lawson • 16 min read
MER Article Street Vendors “Modern” is the way in which Cairo’s city administration would like to portray the Egyptian capital -- a Singapore-style, business metropolis stretching along the banks of the Nile, clean, rich and air-conditioned. In its latest campaign to create such an image, the city’s administration has identified unlicensed street Karim El-Gawhary • 2 min read
MER Article Bread Riots in Jordan On August 13, the Jordanian government lifted its subsidies on wheat. When bread prices immediately doubled, residents of the southern town of Karak demonstrated against the move, calling for a reversal of the policy and the resignation of the prime minister. The protests deteriorated into riots tha Lamis Andoni, Jillian Schwedler • 10 min read
MER Article Thwarting Palestinian Development The preamble of the Protocol on Economic Relations between the Government of the State of Israel and the PLO, signed on May 4, 1994, states: This protocol lays the groundwork for strengthening the economic base of the Palestinian side and for exercising its right of economic decision making in acco Jennifer Olmsted • 9 min read
